Viet-Cajun Cuisine

Vietnamese Cajun cuisine or Viet-Cajun is a new kind of fusion, merging the flavors of the south with ingredients belonging to food from the southeast Asian country of Vietnam. According to an article called “ Vietnamese-Cajun Crawfish Is the American Food of the Future ,” by Dan Q. Dao, this kind of food was created perhaps as early as the 1970’s when Vietnamese refugees landed in the Gulf Coast, resettled by the Indochinese Assistance and Refugee Assistance Act of 1975. These refugees found that “boiling points” or “outdoor predecessors of proper crawfish joints” in Louisiana were similar to the quán nhậu or outdoor food markets in Vietnam, finding comfort in them which most likely led to the creation of Viet-Cajun crawfish (Dao n.p.). Many of these Vietnamese immigrants moved out of Louisiana due to dwindling economic opportunities following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and found themselves in places such as Houston, Texas. The success of Viet-Cajun cuisine could have been credited to the fact that “Houston has opened its doors to more refugees than any other city in America,” according to Dao (n.p.).

The first time that this food was brought into a restaurant was in 2008 to the city of Houston by a Vietnamese immigrant named  Trong Ngyuen . His restaurant now has many awards and Nguyen is a two-time James Beard Semifinalist featured on TV through platforms such as Netflix and the Travel Channel with Crawfish & Noodles. His establishment, called  Crawfish & Noodles  was the first restaurant to introduce Viet-Cajun cuisine to the public, merging the flavors of each respective cuisine into a new one, creating new flavorful dishes that are the first of their kind. Fast forward to 2020, dozens of restaurants have popped up in Houston, spreading across the United States serving Viet-Cajun cuisine, inspired by Crawfish and Noodles to serve new flavors and a different kind of food to people. 

However, while many people have adapted these flavors in their cooking, there are a handful of traditionalists who refuse to acknowledge the validity of this new cuisine, primarily in New Orleans where cajun food has its roots alongside creole and southern cuisine. Some have felt that people in New Orleans aren’t ready to be introduced to the fusion because crawfish in New Orleans has been a staple on its own for years. Many owners of traditional crawfish boils refuse to adapt new cooking methods and try new ingredients just for the sake of tradition, unwilling to create new dishes that many agree ultimately just taste better. 

Some Vietnamese in New Orleans have decided to separate their Cajun food from their Vietnamese food, never allowing other flavors to meet each other. They believe that some flavors won’t quite mix together well and that they should be left alone to preserve what already exists, replicating certain dishes the same way every time to prolong their own culture in a way. 

It can be argued that all traditions had their own respective beginning at some point in time but traditions were meant to be broken. Cajun influence has even made it’s way all the way to Vietnam by some restaurant owners such as Nikki Tran, coining a slightly different term there— “Viejun.” At her restaurant, Kậu Ba Quán, she creates a spin on the traditional gumbo, utilizing more typically Vietnamese ingredients as well as Southern ones such as okra and of course, crawfish. Cajun food comes from the French-Canadians who colonized South Louisiana, demonstrating how Cajun food was inspired and cultivated by the merging of both new and old ideas from different cultures and people. 

From the ever-so popular rice noodle dish pho to the refreshing spring rolls, the culinary dishes of Vietnam have proven to be a popular food choice across the United States. Understanding the vast history of the country brings insight into the complexity and depth of its food origins; highlighting the fusion of both Chinese and French cuisine into the Vietnamese. 

In the early second century, much of the Vietnamese lived within Chinese provinces and under the political control of long standing Chinese dynasties. Although the history between the two countries was intricate and convoluted, one of the great things that came about from this history were famous Chinese infused Vietnamese dishes. One of them being the use of noodles as well as another popular noodle dish named mì hoành thánh, which is the Vietnamese spin on the Chinese wonton noodle soup. Vietnam’s national noodle soup, phở, is the result of over a thousand years of Chinese subjugation.

Another country that has heavily influenced Vietnamese cuisine was France. French colonists came to Vietnam in the 19th century and brought with them various food items that have seamlessly incorporated into famous Vietnamese dishes today. A couple of these dishes being banh mi, which incorporates the French baguette with pate and cà phê sữa đá which is Vietnamese coffee made with French roast coffee such as Cafe Du Monde.

The influence of both the Chinese and the French on Vietnamese cuisine has created many of the popular Vietnamese dishes that are well known today. Without this fusion of food cultures, pho, banh mi and more may not exist. The significance of this in the food history of Vietnam highlights the importance of fusion and influence in the many cuisine cultures across the globe, including that of Vietnamese-cajun food. 

"How did Vietnamese food come to be? Someone merged together some French and some Southeast Asian food. Vietnamese food is probably the most classic fusion food and greatest success stories of fusion food of the past 100 years" - David Chang

The story of how Cajun food was created is a gumbo of various factors and cultures. It began with the Acadians who were a group of French colonizers who arrived in Acadia, Canada that were then exiled by the British who had taken control of the area shortly after. Those people ended up in Louisiana around 1800 and had brought their French culture and cuisine there as well. The word “Cajun” is an evolution from “Acadian.”

Essentially, Cajun cuisine as we currently know today was just a composition of various cultures and cuisines in the Southern Louisiana region. Acadians were met with a plethora of different groups and people when they arrived including Black Creoles, Spaniards, Native Americans, Italians, and Germans who all ended up creating Cajun culture together. Due to the proximity of the gulf, cajun people began to fish from it and the bayous of the Mississippi river, consuming lots of seafood such as shrimp, fish, and crawfish. 

Originally Cajun food was seen as a peasants cuisine, just adding whatever vegetables Cajuns could harvest from the land, mixing that with various meats and seafood into a single pot with rice for additional sustenance gave them energy throughout the day. That is basically how Gumbo, the most recognizable Cajun dish was created. French sausage known as Boudin was a popular meat choice and is oftentimes used in dishes such as gumbo. 

Cajun cuisine comprises so many other different cuisines that happened to circustancially be in the same place at the same time, allowing for the merge of different cultures and flavors. It is a cuisine that essentially is already fusion food along with Vietnamese cuisine, so what harm does mixing the two do?

Viet-Cajun Cuisine is characterized by the key ingredients of lemongrass, ginger, fish sauce, and butter representing the Vietnamese aspect and spices such as cayenne pepper, onion, and celery for the Cajun side. The most popular Viet-Cajun dish is crawfish. It is made by boiling crawfish and then adding a garlic butter sauce after it's removed from the water, tossing it with Old Bay and Creole seasoning as well as lemongrass and ginger. The key difference between the Viet-Cajun crawfish and traditional Cajun crawfish is that in the traditional method the seasonings are added into the boiling water as the crawfish cooks. 

Although this is the most popular dish of this kind of fusion, the cuisine is constantly evolving, its key flavors being introduced to other dishes such as fried rice, pho, and wings. Vietnamese and Cajun cuisine respectively are already fusion foods in different ways respectively, so what's wrong with fusing it even further? They are more similar than most people think, being influenced by the French in some capacity since both areas were colonized.

The reality of the situation is that it's all southern food. Ultimately, Viet-Cajun is “a Southern food through and through. Like Tex-Mex or Creole cuisine, it was born on American soil through a specific set of circumstances at a particular moment in time” (Dao n.p.). Despite what traditionalists may think, their food was considered a fusion food too at an earlier point in time and it is hypocritical to resist the merging of new foods and cuisine. 

Viet-Cajun even today can be considered just a southern food because it is a part of the constantly evolving culture down there. With Vietnamese food being a fusion of Chinese and French cuisine and Cajun food being the synthesis of at least five other cuisines, we might as well embrace the further fusion of these foods to create dishes that are delicious and to introduce new flavors that people have never tasted before. 

12, Joshua Mcmeans • December. “Cajun.” History of the Cajun People and Their Cuisine - Global Foodways, 12 Dec. 2017, adhc.lib.ua.edu/globalfoodways/history-of-the-cajun-people-and-their-cuisine/. 

Bashinsky, Robin. “Viet-Cajun Crawfish Boil Recipe.” Southern Living, 24 June 2020, www.southernliving.com/recipes/viet-cajun-crawfish-boil. 

Chang, David. “Ugly Delicious ‘Shrimp and Crawfish.’” Netflix, 23 Feb. 2018, www.netflix.com/title/80170368. 

Dao March 29, Dan Q. “The Dao Family Shares Their Viet-Cajun Crawfish Tradition.” Southern Living, 29 Mar. 2020, www.southernliving.com/seafood/crawfish/viet-cajun-crawfish. 

Dao, Dan Q. “Vietnamese-Cajun Crawfish Is the American Food of the Future.” VICE, 27 Feb. 2018, www.vice.com/en/article/vbpqnm/vietnamese-cajun-crawfish-houston. 

Guide, City Pass. “City Pass Guide.” Understanding Vietnam's History Through Food, 13 July 2016, www.citypassguide.com/blog/understanding-vietnams-history-through-food. 

Hennes, Rebecca. “Craving Viet-Cajun Crawfish? Check out These 15 Houston Area Favorites.” Chron, Houston Chronicle, 26 Mar. 2019, www.chron.com/neighborhood/article/Where-to-get-Viet-Cajun-Crawfish-in-Houston-13717222.php. 

Holliday, Graham. “These 8 Dishes Explain the History of Vietnam.” Explore Parts Unknown, Explore Parts Unknown, 6 Dec. 2018, explorepartsunknown.com/vietnam/8-essential-vietnamese-dishes/. 

Person. “Crawfish & Noodles: Bringing Vietnamese and Cajun Flavors Together.” ABC13 Houston, KTRK-TV, 12 Oct. 2020, abc13.com/crawfish-in-houston-viet-cajun-vietnamese-restaurant-food/6972545/.