Recipes, Poems, and Memory in Contemporary Louisiana Francophone Literature

Abstract

Louisiana French literature, like its cuisine, is fluid, plural, and forever evolving. Language and food are two vital mediums through which Louisianans express identity, emotions, memory, and culture. Even as Louisiana’s French language faced a near erasure in the mid-twentieth century due to Americanization, cultural expression and evolution thrive at the intersection of oral literature and cuisine. Food, as a theme, lexical field, and symbol helps contemporary cooks and writers define their own identity. In the review of creative writing, Feux Follets (1991–Present), food plays a vital role in the quest for identity among its contributors. The creolization of Louisiana culture manifests itself in creative expression, be it a dish in Melissa Martin’s Mosquito Supper Club (2020), or a poem in Feux Follets. This article demonstrates how the intersection of emblematic food items and creative writing provides a space for the evolution of a literary identity that is as vibrant and creolized as Louisiana cuisine and culture in general. Despite the fluidity and plurality of identities, writers of cookbooks and poetry write Louisiana cuisine as a metaphor, image, and cultural object to amplify Franco-literary voices in the twenty-first century.