Which ethnic group developed Cajun cuisine in Louisiana?

The Cajuns developed Cajun cuisine in Louisiana. Cajuns are descendants primarily of French-speaking Acadians who settled in southern Louisiana after the mid-18th-century expulsion of Acadians from parts of eastern Canada.

In Louisiana, Acadian cooking adapted to a very different climate and landscape. Local ingredients, including rice, corn, seafood, game, okra, and Gulf Coast shellfish, became central to the cuisine. Cajun cooks also absorbed techniques and ingredients from Native American, African, Spanish, French, Caribbean, and other Louisiana communities.

Cajun cuisine is often associated with rural Acadiana and one-pot dishes such as gumbo, jambalaya, and étouffée. A common mix-up is treating Cajun and Creole cuisine as identical. They overlap substantially, but Cajun cooking historically developed among rural Acadian communities, while Creole cooking is more closely associated with New Orleans and its cosmopolitan population.

The word “Cajun” itself comes from “Acadian,” reflecting the group’s French-Canadian roots and later Louisiana identity.