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Step 1
Know that most people believe that the two types of cuisines are the same. When most people refer to the distinct style of the cooking in New Orleans, they use the two terms interchangeably. The Creole-Cajun fusion has only made it more confusing.
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Step 2
Understand that Cajun cooking is a more simple type of cooking. Poor Acadians were expelled from Canada and had to find means to survive. They used the foods that were available to them in their new home.
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Step 3
Learn that the adaptation of these foods was a blending or fusion in itself. Cajuns used the common French cuisine and mixed it with the foods that were readily available. For example, they used bell pepper, celery and onions instead of the onion, celery and carrot of French cuisine. The cooking of Southern poverty was integrated with the cooking of their homeland.
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Step 4
Realize that the Creole cooking was also a blending of the nationalities that settled in the larger cities. Cooks blended African, Caribbean, French and Spanish cooking to create the cities' meals.
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Step 5
Look for tomatoes in the sauce to differentiate the Creole from the Cajun cooking. There are two types of jambalaya; the Creole red jambalaya contains tomatoes, while the Cajun jambalaya doesn't. Both are an adaptation of paella.
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Step 6
Look for creamy sauces in the Creole cooking. The Cajun cooking is more simplified, with fats giving heartiness.
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Step 7
Watch as the two merge when served in restaurants. Today, you can find many of the foods served in Cajun and Creole restaurants are actually combinations of the two types. Meals may have a Creole gumbo only to be followed by Cajun pan bread. Cajun-Creole fusion food has emerged to form a new style of its own.
