Baton Rouge native Leea Russell was surprised to be contacted about the question she asked to answer: "Why do some people put tomatoes in their gumbo?"
That's because Russell didn't actually submit it. She did ask the question — but only to her colleague at the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge. Erin Douget, an Opelousas native who lives in Baton Rouge, thought Russell's question was worth investigating but wanted to give credit where it was due.
"I said it out loud," Russell said with a laugh. "But she's the one who actually sent the information to you and put my name and contact information on there."
Neither Russell, 38, nor Douget, 32, puts tomatoes in her homemade gumbo. Russell's go-to is a crab and shrimp; Douget typically opts for chicken and sausage.
"I am curious," Douget said. "Gumbo for us doesn't have tomatoes, but I know that there is a contingent of people that do do that, and so it's interesting to me to learn about why that is."
Whether you put tomatoes in your gumbo is closely linked to where you grew up and your familial ties, according to Liz Williams, founder of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum in New Orleans.
"It's a lot about how you were brought up," Williams said. "So much of it is cultural. You have to think a long time ago."
Liz Williams, founder of the Southern Food And Beverage Museum in New Orleans, adds diced tomato to her seafood gumbo in the museum's kitchen Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. (Photo by Scott Threlkeld, | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
STAFF PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD
Williams, 72, makes a variety of gumbos with and without tomatoes. She even makes a turkey and sausage gumbo with Thanksgiving leftovers that she serves over oyster dressing instead of rice.
"It's definitely Cajun not to use tomatoes," Williams said. "And you have to think, 'Why is that?' It's probably just because tomatoes weren't available in that area. And a descendent of somebody who came from Nova Scotia for sure wasn't using them because there weren't tomatoes in Nova Scotia."
The state dish can be traced back to the late 1700s in south Louisiana.
Those early gumbos did not begin with a roux. Instead, they were thickened with either African okra — brought to the area by enslaved people — or the Native American Choctaw filé powder ground from sassafras leaves. Early gumbos were not served over rice but over cornmeal mush.
Seafood gumbo or chicken & sausage gumbo? On the premiere episode of This or That, our food writer Ian McNulty dives in to both types of gumbo and their place in Louisiana kitchens.
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The addition of tomatoes — what is now considered a Creole gumbo ingredient — is something Lafayette folklorist John Laudun believes came from Haitian immigrants and was later reinforced by the arrival of Italians in the New Orleans area.
"Tomatoes in gumbo seem to have the highest density of occurrences in New Orleans, where both a large number of Haitian Creoles settled but also Italians," Laudun said. "As you move away from New Orleans, the density of their usage in gumbo drops off considerably, though pockets along the bayous Teche, Lafourche and Terrebonne are not unknown. My guess is that similar dynamics were — are — in play."
Liz Williams, founder of the Southern Food And Beverage Museum in New Orleans, adds diced tomato to her seafood gumbo in the museum's kitchen Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. (Photo by Scott Threlkeld, | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
STAFF PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD
Everything from seafood to poultry to pork, often in combination, was used and continues to be used in Louisiana gumbos. Gumbo z'herbes, an old variation mainly served during the Catholic Lenten season, featured a variety of greens instead of meat or seafood. It's rarely found in restaurants today, but the dish is still occasionally made by home cooks.
The Rev. Keith DeRouen, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Angels in Opelousas, is one of the home cooks who continues to make the vegetarian gumbo.
DeRouen, 65, was born on Avery Island near New Iberia. He comes from a long line of gumbo cooks and makes a few variations of the Louisiana dish, but he's never seen a gumbo with tomatoes in it and wouldn't dream of adding tomatoes to the ones he makes himself.
"That's more of a New Orleans thing than a Cajun Acadiana regional thing," DeRouen said. "It's that Creole influence from New Orleans."
Liz Williams, founder of the Southern Food And Beverage Museum in New Orleans, adds diced tomato to her seafood gumbo in the museum's kitchen Saturday, Aug. 6, 2022. (Photo by Scott Threlkeld, | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
STAFF PHOTO BY SCOTT THRELKELD
Although people have strong opinions about what makes a good gumbo, your idea of what should go into the pot — including tomatoes — might boil down to what ingredients were available and affordable to your ancestors.
"You got people who put boiled eggs in their gumbo, people who put hot dogs in their gumbo," Williams said. "Either because it's all they can afford or this is all they had. If you're on a farm, you've got eggs. People use what they have. Some of it is class. Some of it is race. Some of it is availability."
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