I recently made Louisiana food for the English teachers at my school.  The teachers’ image of American food was hamburgers, hot-dogs, and steak.  But I made a kind of stew called “etouffee”, which is made of shrimp, rice, and vegetables.  The teachers were quite surprised and impressed.  One of them said, “If I could have food like this every day, I could live in America.”  Today I will introduce Louisiana cooking to you.
  To understand Louisiana’s food we must first understand its history.   The first people in Louisiana were the American Indians.  The first Europeans in Louisiana were the French.  Later, people from Spain, Africa, and the Caribbean islands moved there.  These people brought their languages and cultures to their new home.  Over time, their cultures mixed to create something new.
  For example, the name “etouffee” is French: it means “smothered”.  The dish I cooked for the teachers is called “etouffee” because the rice is covered by the shrimp and vegetables.  Etouffee is made with celery, green peppers, onion, and tomatoes.  These vegetables were traditionally used in Spanish cooking in Louisiana.  So, the French and the Spanish cultures mixed to make something new called “creole”.  Etouffee is an example of creole cooking.

　Another dish loved in Louisiana is a kind of soup called “gumbo”.  There are many recipes for gumbo, and some of them use okra.  Okra is called “ngombo” in Bantu.  Bantu is a language spoken by some West African people who moved to Louisiana from the Caribbean.  As with etouffee, vegetables traditionally found in Spanish cooking are used to make gumbo.  A kind of leaf used by American Indians was introduced into the recipe long ago.  So, gumbo is another dish that mixes the cultures of Louisiana’s people.
  I believe Louisiana’s food is some of the best in the United States.  There aren’t any restaurants in Niigata that make creole food.  But there are recipes on the internet, and we can find many of the ingredients at the supermarket.  Why don’t you try cooking a Louisiana dish?

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Louisiana（ルイジアナ州），recently（最近），image（イメージ，印象），steak（ステーキ），stew（シチュー），etouffee（エトゥフェ），shrimp（小エビ），vegetable（野菜），quite（非常に），American Indian（アメリカインディアン），European（欧州人），French（フランス人，フランス語，フランスの），Spain（スペイン），Africa（アフリカ），Caribbean islands（カリブ海の島々），over time（時を経て），mixed＜mix（混ざる），create（創り出す），smothered＜smother（厚くおおう），dish（料理），covered＜cover（おおう），celery（セロリ），green pepper（ピーマン），onion（タマネギ），tomatoes＜tomato（トマト），traditionally（伝統的に），Spanish（スペインの），creole（クリオール），gumbo（ガンボ），recipe（レシピ），okra（オクラ），Bantu（バンツー族の），as with〜（〜と同様に），internet（インターネット），ingredient（材料），supermarket（スーパーマーケット）