Calas are New Orleans rice fritters traditionally made from fermented rice, flour, sugar, and eggs.
The fritters are associated with West African culinary traditions and with African American women who sold them in New Orleans, especially in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Cooked rice was allowed to ferment before being mixed into a batter and fried. Calas were commonly sold as breakfast food by street vendors.
Calas are sometimes confused with beignets because both are fried New Orleans pastries. Their ingredients and histories differ, however: beignets are yeast- or choux-based fried dough, while calas center on cooked rice. The dish became less common during the twentieth century but has been revived by cooks and historians interested in New Orleans foodways.