Q 01/05

Which three vegetables make up the Cajun 'holy trinity'?

A) Onion, carrot and celery

B) Okra, tomato and onion

C) Garlic, onion and leek

D) Onion, celery and bell pepper

Answer · why

D) Onion, celery and bell pepper

Onion, celery and bell pepper, with the pepper standing in for the carrot of French mirepoix. The trio is centuries old in Louisiana pots, but the 'ho...

Q 02/05

The Cajuns descend from French colonists deported by the British from which region?

A) Quebec

B) Normandy

C) Newfoundland

D) Acadia

Answer · why

D) Acadia

Acadia, the French colony in what is now Nova Scotia and its neighbours. 'Cajun' is simply 'Acadian' worn down by generations of Louisiana speech.

Q 03/05

The word gumbo most likely comes from an African word for which vegetable?

A) Yam

B) Tomato

C) Okra

D) Pepper

Answer · why

C) Okra

Okra. The Bantu word, close to ngombo, crossed the Atlantic with enslaved Africans, and in parts of the South 'gumbo' is still another name for the ve...

Q 04/05

On which day of the week is red beans and rice traditionally cooked in New Orleans?

A) Sunday

B) Monday

C) Wednesday

D) Friday

Answer · why

B) Monday

Monday. It was washday, so a pot of beans seasoned with the bone from Sunday's ham could simmer untended while the laundry was scrubbed.

Q 05/05

File powder is ground from the leaves of which tree, once root beer's main flavouring?

A) Sassafras

B) Bay laurel

C) Pecan

D) Magnolia

Answer · why

A) Sassafras

Sassafras. Choctaw cooks were grinding its dried leaves long before Louisiana kitchens borrowed them, and the French name is a warning: file means 'sp...