“The strength of a nation is in the hands of the cook. Feed a man well, he will work well, he will fight well” (Eustis). These words are not what would typically be expected from a cookbook yet, nonetheless this is how author Celestine Eustis chooses to start her collection of recipes. In 1836, Celestine Eustis was born in Paris, to her mother who was from a prominent French-speaking Creole family. In 1904, when Eustis was in her late sixties, she wrote Creole in Old Cooking Days (On History and Food). Cooking in Old Creole Days shows the diversity of Creole culture with its variety of recipes and songs as well as other things that are included in this guide to Creole cooking even more so in the author’s introduction, as she utilizes some unconventional methods. This cookbook highlights the diversity and vibrancy of the Creole culture and how it played an important role in the exotic regional culture of Louisiana and in the old south. It served as a reflection of her Creole heritage, New Orleans background, French living, and privileged lifestyle. The recipe book celebrates the cooking traditions and meals created in the kitchens of the wealthy Southern society (On History and Food).
Within the introduction to the book, the surrender of Appomattox was referenced as the cause for two major calamities, the end of dueling and the disappearance of the colored cook. The latter of which, Celestine Eustis had first-hand knowledge of.
Defining one large combination of cultures that are blended together was done with a single word, Creole. A word packed with such diverse background and meaning that it serves as a perfect reference to define such a diverse culture. What is Creole? Creole, coming from both the Spanish word criollo and the F...
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...ion of recipes celebrates the culinary traditions of wealthy Southern Society (Feeding America). Creole culture is its own unique blend and Celestine Eustis helped to show the world what the entire Creole culture had to offer.
Works Cited
"Creole." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 11 Dec. 2013. .
Eustis, Celestine. Cooking in Old Creole Days = La Cuisine Créole À L'usage Des Petits Menages. New York: n.p., 1928. Print.
"Feeding America." Feeding America. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
"Historical Events for Year 1903." Today in History, Birthdays & History Articles. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
"Historical Events for Year 1904." Today in History, Birthdays & History Articles. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2013.
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Correspondence of John C. Calhoun. J. Franklin Jameson, ed. Annual Report of the American Historical Association 1899. II. 1900.
"Prologue: Selected Articles." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014.
The culture of Louisiana is not one general set of customs and beliefs shared by all those who live in the area. Louisiana is a state in which many different elements are mixed together to create what can be described as Southern Louisianan culture. The two most predominant elements which make up the culture within the southern region of the state are the cultures of the Creoles and the Cajuns, which have many different influences within them. A complex blend of many different elements, including religion, language, music, and food, create the unique culture of the Cajuns and the Creoles in the region of Southern Louisiana. The Cajuns are considered to be descendants of Acadian exiles who live mostly within the state of Louisiana.
Walens, Susann. A. United States History Since 1877. Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, CT. September 2007.
The Creoles wanted to somehow get political power, but they were being rejected of it; however, they were gaining nobility. They owned the “largest and richest mines and haciendas” (Hook Exercise), but even with wealth, the Creoles “held few high-ranking jobs in the government” (Hook Exercise); hence, those jobs went to the peninsulares. They were also the “least oppressed” (Modern World History) of those who were born in the Latin America as well as the most educated, for they adopted the Enlightenment ideas. Also, when the monarchy collapsed, the Creoles wouldn’t let the “political vacuum to remain unfilled, their lives and
Whitley, Peggy. "1920-1929." American Cultural History. Lone Star College Kingwood-Library, 07 Feb. 2011. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
...e, Geneviève, and Armin Schwegler. Creoles, Contact, and Language Change: Linguistics and Social Implications. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Pub., 2004. Print.
"US History Timeline: 1800 - 1900." US History Timeline: 1800 - 1900. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
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The purpose of this essay is to explore the sociolinguistic factors and issues that have had impact on the status, function and use of Haitian Creole.
Andrist, Ralph K., and Edmund O. Stillman. The American Heritage History of the 1920s & 1930s. New York: American Heritage/Bonanza, 1987. Print.
"Wright Brothers Information Packet: Orville Wright's December 17, 1903 Diary Entry - Special Collection & Archives." Wright State University Libraries, University Libraries, www.libraries.wright.edue/special/wrightbrothers/packet/orville. Accessed 27 Nov. 2016.
Teachers should try to incorporate Creole language and culture in the class as much as possible. The imposition of International French can also serve as a gateway to the Creole community. Students of CODOFIL that have studied abroad now hold positions as French speaking members of the community. “Many are able to adapt their grammars to that of their own speech community” (Brown, 1993). Brown stated that since the languages are intelligible, near-passive speakers of Louisiana Creole French (individuals that heard Creole being spoken at home but never became active speakers themselves) can often “activate” their Creole competence through being exposed to International French. The biggest issue with my proposed solution would be lack of funding and lack of participation. Perhaps the reason that CODOFIL hasn’t sponsored any projects associated with the revival of Creole is because of the fact that not enough interest has been shown. It’s not a surprise that most people don’t care to learn a new language, even if that language is deeply rooted in their culture. Maybe their parents don’t want them to learn, or they just see the point. As a person of Creole descent, I feel that it’s important to learn about your culture because language is a deep association to identity. By promoting interest in learning and speaking
Phillips, Charles. "December 29, 1890." American History 40.5 (2005): 16. MAS Ultra - School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 6 Apr. 2015.
Cookbooks during this time period in the 1950’s had a significant role in society in which it impacted and influenced the domestic ideology of postwar America. Many cookbooks were created to advise women and mainly newly-weds in the culinary arts to reassure that their skills in the kitchen would ensure happy marriages. These cookbooks helped to limit women’s role to those of wives, mothers, and homemakers. They are a reflection of the 1950’s popular culture which emphasized conformity, a gender-based society, and gender norms, in which gender roles were very distinct and rigid. They are similar to television in that they can be seen as teachers because they have instructional texts “given detailed account of the correct gender specific way to undertake the activity of cooking” in which their students are mainly women pressuring them to identify themselves as solely housewives and mothers (“The Way to a Man’s Heart”, pg. 531). Because of cookbooks and its reflection on popular culture, there was a heightened emphasis during this time period on the woman’s role in feeding the family. The 1940s cookbooks emphasized more on rationing food and helping the war effort by not wasting any food and being creative of limited sources of food. However, although the concept of food is different, the domestic ideology was still the same in that these