Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou

Nonfiction, Food & Drink, International, Cajun & Creole, Soups & Stews, Food Writing
Cover of the book Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou by Ken Wells, W. W. Norton & Company
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Ken Wells ISBN: 9780393254846
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Publication: February 26, 2019
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company Language: English
Author: Ken Wells
ISBN: 9780393254846
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication: February 26, 2019
Imprint: W. W. Norton & Company
Language: English

A sprightly, deeply personal narrative about how gumbo—for 250 years a Cajun and Creole secret—has become one of the world’s most beloved dishes.

Ask any self-respecting Louisianan who makes the best gumbo and the answer is universal: “Momma.” The product of a melting pot of culinary influences, gumbo, in fact, reflects the diversity of the people who cooked it up: French aristocrats, West Africans in bondage, Cajun refugees, German settlers, Native Americans—all had a hand in the pot. What is it about gumbo that continues to delight and nourish so many? And what explains its spread around the world?

A seasoned journalist, Ken Wells sleuths out the answers. His obsession goes back to his childhood in the Cajun bastion of Bayou Black, where his French-speaking mother’s gumbo often began with a chicken chased down in the yard. Back then, gumbo was a humble soup little known beyond the boundaries of Louisiana. So when a homesick young Ken, at college in Missouri, realized there wasn’t a restaurant that could satisfy his gumbo cravings, he called his momma for the recipe. That phone-taught gumbo was a disaster. The second, cooked at his mother’s side, fueled a lifelong quest to explore gumbo’s roots and mysteries.

In Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou, Wells does just that. He spends time with octogenarian chefs who turn the lowly coot into gourmet gumbo; joins a team at a highly competitive gumbo contest; visits a factory that churns out gumbo by the ton; observes the gumbo-making rituals of an iconic New Orleans restaurant where high-end Creole cooking and Cajun cuisine first merged.

Gumbo Life, rendered in Wells’ affable prose, makes clear that gumbo is more than simply a delicious dish: it’s an attitude, a way of seeing the world. For all who read its pages, this is a tasty culinary memoir—to be enjoyed and shared like a simmering pot of gumbo.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A sprightly, deeply personal narrative about how gumbo—for 250 years a Cajun and Creole secret—has become one of the world’s most beloved dishes.

Ask any self-respecting Louisianan who makes the best gumbo and the answer is universal: “Momma.” The product of a melting pot of culinary influences, gumbo, in fact, reflects the diversity of the people who cooked it up: French aristocrats, West Africans in bondage, Cajun refugees, German settlers, Native Americans—all had a hand in the pot. What is it about gumbo that continues to delight and nourish so many? And what explains its spread around the world?

A seasoned journalist, Ken Wells sleuths out the answers. His obsession goes back to his childhood in the Cajun bastion of Bayou Black, where his French-speaking mother’s gumbo often began with a chicken chased down in the yard. Back then, gumbo was a humble soup little known beyond the boundaries of Louisiana. So when a homesick young Ken, at college in Missouri, realized there wasn’t a restaurant that could satisfy his gumbo cravings, he called his momma for the recipe. That phone-taught gumbo was a disaster. The second, cooked at his mother’s side, fueled a lifelong quest to explore gumbo’s roots and mysteries.

In Gumbo Life: Tales from the Roux Bayou, Wells does just that. He spends time with octogenarian chefs who turn the lowly coot into gourmet gumbo; joins a team at a highly competitive gumbo contest; visits a factory that churns out gumbo by the ton; observes the gumbo-making rituals of an iconic New Orleans restaurant where high-end Creole cooking and Cajun cuisine first merged.

Gumbo Life, rendered in Wells’ affable prose, makes clear that gumbo is more than simply a delicious dish: it’s an attitude, a way of seeing the world. For all who read its pages, this is a tasty culinary memoir—to be enjoyed and shared like a simmering pot of gumbo.

More books from W. W. Norton & Company

Cover of the book "What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character by Ken Wells
Cover of the book The Lobster Kings: A Novel by Ken Wells
Cover of the book House Lights: A Novel by Ken Wells
Cover of the book Cats' Paws and Catapults: Mechanical Worlds of Nature and People by Ken Wells
Cover of the book Mental Health for the Whole Child: Moving Young Clients from Disease & Disorder to Balance & Wellness by Ken Wells
Cover of the book Capital: A Novel by Ken Wells
Cover of the book From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World to Find the Good Death by Ken Wells
Cover of the book Ghost Lights: A Novel by Ken Wells
Cover of the book The Mind Has Cliffs of Fall: Poetry at the Extremes of Feeling by Ken Wells
Cover of the book Leave It to Psmith by Ken Wells
Cover of the book Ludmila's Broken English: A Novel by Ken Wells
Cover of the book The Will to Change: Poems 1968-1970 by Ken Wells
Cover of the book The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea by Ken Wells
Cover of the book Necessary Secrets: National Security, the Media, and the Rule of Law by Ken Wells
Cover of the book Loss, Trauma, and Resilience: Therapeutic Work With Ambiguous Loss by Ken Wells
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy