{"id":165265,"date":"2026-09-02T16:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fourseasons.com\/magazine\/?p=165265"},"modified":"2026-09-02T16:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:29:09","slug":"evolving-soul-of-creole","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fourseasons.com\/magazine\/from-the-magazine\/evolving-soul-of-creole\/","title":{"rendered":"The Evolving Soul of Creole"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n
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Few words are richer or more difficult to define than Creole<\/em>.<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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In New Orleans, Louisiana, it is a virtuoso scraping his washboard to the driving, syncopated rhythm of zydeco music, but it is also the complex flavours in a bowl of gumbo. In the Bahamas, it is a cuisine that is a m\u00e9lange of British, African, and Caribbean influences starring peas, pastries, and aromatic stews cooked for hours over low heat, as well as a primarily English dialect known as Bahamian Creole that combines languages from three disparate continents. And, half a world away, on the islands of the Indian Ocean that make up the Seychelles, Creole is a way of life: joyful gatherings on the beach; a musical language\u2014this time mixing French with East African dialects\u2014and a cuisine in which indigenous ingredients like coconut milk and octopus meet the spices and slow-cooked curries of South Asia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cCreole isn\u2019t about a specific skin tone or country; it\u2019s about a culture.\u201d This is how Mona Lisa Saloy, author of the poetry collection Black Creole Chroni<\/em>cles<\/em>, described it to me in 2023.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s food, it\u2019s music, it\u2019s architecture, it\u2019s style, and it\u2019s traditions,\u201d she added. \u201cThere are millions of Creole people in countries across the world, and we create beautiful cultures everywhere we go.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Salt Restaurant at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Spiny lobster at Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Over the past few decades, the exploration of Creole identity and, most visibly, Creole cuisine has been on the rise. You can see that popularity as tourists flock to local restaurants in Creole destinations as far-flung as the Treme neighbourhood of New Orleans, the soul-stirring streets of Port Louis, Mauritius, and the tropical islands and islets of Anguilla. But the demand for Creole dining experiences has extended beyond its usual hubs to regions and settings previously uncharted. Restaurants serving this unique and flavourful cuisine exist in places with little prior history of the culture\u2014from Tokyo to Chicago\u2014and superstar chefs, such as Kwame Onwuachi, Julia de Laguarigue, and Jacob Kenedy, in cities like Paris, London, New York, and Washington, D.C., are being awarded the world\u2019s highest culinary honours for their exploration of this important food.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

While the recipes and flavours at these restaurants can vary from country to country and kitchen to kitchen, there are certain traits that connect them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cTo be Creole is to invent,\u201d explains David Beriss, professor of anthropology at the University of New Orleans and author of Black Skins, French Voices: Caribbean Ethnicity and Activism in Urban France<\/em>. \u201cWhat makes it difficult to define is that, by definition, it is always evolving toward something\u2014beautiful, I think\u2014that hadn\u2019t previously existed in the world.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"BBQ<\/p>\r\n

BBQ Ribs at Four Seasons Resort Nevis<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\"Private<\/p>\r\n

Private beach dining at Four Seasons Resort Nevis<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Defining Creole<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As the growing powers of Europe attempted to colonize the globe in the 15th century, they encountered cultures that were previously unknown to them. Countries like Portugal, England, and France exchanged goods and ideas with the Indigenous peoples of these newly discovered lands.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Of course, the full story is more fraught. Between 1625 and 1867, European countries enslaved and transported nearly 12 million Africans to the New World alone. This is when the term Creole<\/em> first entered the lexicon, to differentiate an enslaved person born in the New World from someone born in Africa.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But Creole<\/em> comes from the Portuguese word crioulo<\/em>, which itself derives from the Latin creare<\/em>, meaning \u201cto create.\u201d To be Creole in places like the Caribbean now refers to this unique mixture of three influences: European, African, and Indigenous.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What was being created, explains Peggy Brunache, a Haitian American food historian and lecturer at the University of Glasgow, was a new culture, albeit one not without its atrocities and tragedies.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThese civilizations didn\u2019t come together easily\u2014there was enslavement, sexual violence, and genocide,\u201d she says.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hundreds of years later and against all odds, one result of that frightening cruelty is a triumphant gift to the world. Brunache says that is especially evident in the cuisine from these regions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cCooking techniques from the Europeans met indigenous ingredients from the land that were grown, cooked, and developed by enslaved Africans,\u201d she says. \u201cMuch of it was considered \u2018slave food,\u2019 but for Black people at the time, their food was one of their few joys in life. That it is still enjoyed, by white people and by Black people, all these years later, feels like a testament to what they created here.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Four Seasons Resort Nevis<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Callaloo in the Caribbean<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In the West Indies, specific staples and dishes have been part of the Creole diet for hundreds of years. Breadfruit, a starchy, nutritious fruit versatile enough to be eaten at any time of day, was originally grown by the British to sustain their enslaved labourers. Similarly, oxtails, cow feet, pig tails, and trotters were undesirable pieces of meat passed on to enslaved Africans, who slow cooked the meats to make them tender for flavourful stews, which now define the cuisine, or boiled them down and incorporated them into the regionally ubiquitous leafy green soup known as callaloo.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Today, these dishes and others are so popular that many of them\u2014uniquely flavoured by the region\u2019s bounty and famous for their rustically home-cooked one-pot preparation\u2014are found not only in the Caribbean\u2019s casual restaurants but also throughout the islands\u2019 high-end resorts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThese foods had humble beginnings, but trying our island\u2019s version of Creole cuisine is part of why guests come to our property,\u201d says Methly Faucher, sous-chef at Four Seasons Resort Nevis<\/a>, West Indies, a beachfront oasis on 350 acres in Nevis, in the two-island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In Nevis, Faucher says, Creole cooking means combining local ingredients like fish, tomatoes, thyme, and Scotch bonnet chili peppers with French cooking techniques such as saut\u00e9ing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Guests, he says, are eager to try these flavours at the property\u2019s Caribbean restaurant, Mango. \u201cSpiny lobster and shrimp in citrus-coconut milk, or potato dumplings with callaloo and local herbs, or an oven-baked whole fish with escabeche and coconut rice: They want new culinary experiences,\u201d says Faucher.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Those experiences can include tasting Nevis\u2019s traditional goat water stew or a popular breakfast of salt fish, eggs, and johnnycakes; or even learning in a Creole fish-preparation class at the resort. But culinary adventures are possible throughout the Caribbean. At Four Seasons Resort and Residences Anguilla<\/a>, a serene Mediterranean-style property overlooking a pair of spectacular beaches, ceviche-making classes with Creole seasonings and a beachfront barbecue with fish and traditional accompaniments allow guests to relax like locals.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In the Bahamas\u2014as with all Four Seasons resorts in the Caribbean\u2014diners can try a cuisine that shares Creole characteristics of aromatic vegetables, layered spices, seafood, and bright flavours, while showcasing local produce. \u201cOur love of spice, stews, peppers, tomatoes, onions, and slow-cooked dishes comes directly from Creole-style cooking,\u201d says Lester Dean, executive chef of The Ocean Club, A Four Seasons Resort, Bahamas<\/a>. \u201cBahamian cuisine is still its own identity, but the similarities speak for themselves.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

And at the luxurious new Four Seasons Resort and Residences Puerto Rico<\/a>\u2014located on a two-mile stretch of golden sand on the north of the island\u2014a mofongo cooking class teaches guests the art of preparing a dish that is essential to criollo cooking: weaving together the African tradition of mashing starchy produce (in this case, indigenous Taino plantains) and the Spanish technique of making a sofrito by cooking chopped ingredients, like garlic, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and herbs, with olive oil to impart flavour.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cThat mixture of ingredients is what Creole is,\u201d Faucher says, \u201cbut Creole isn\u2019t only a mixture of ingredients\u2014it\u2019s also a mixture of cultures. To taste the various components of our food is to learn our history.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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The Big Easy\u2019s Red Beans, Rice, and Gumbo<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creole identity is far from homogeneous, varying across regions. While being Creole in the Caribbean refers to someone of a unique blend of ethnicities, in New Orleans, the term historically had less to do with skin colour and race and more to do with being considered native to Louisiana.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cYou had to be born here,\u201d says Vance Vaucresson, third-generation owner of the city\u2019s Vaucresson Sausage Company<\/a>, in business in one form or another since 1899.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In the 18th and 19th centuries, white people with recent European ancestry\u2014specifically from France and Spain, the two countries that had colonized the area\u2014were just as likely as Black and mixed-race residents with family from Africa to call themselves Creole.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cBeing in the Creole class was a unifier,\u201d Vaucresson explains. \u201cIt was arguably more important than skin colour at the time.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But over the course of the 19th century, after the Louisiana Purchase and as New Orleans transitioned into a more traditionally American city, the Civil War and the Reconstruction led to racial tensions that frequently boiled over. The result was that white New Orleanians were no longer eager to claim an identity associated with their Black neighbours.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

To this day, Black residents are far more likely to consider themselves Creole.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Commander’s Palace in New Orleans<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Seafood gumbo at Chemin \u00e0 la Mer, Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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However, when it comes to food in the area, Creole cuisine refers to the same blend of influences\u2014part African, part European, and part Indigenous\u2014that define it elsewhere. Red beans and rice, hot sausage, and jambalaya; crawfish \u00e9touff\u00e9e, grits and grillades, and trout meuni\u00e8re. These are just a few of the many Creole specialties made famous in Louisiana\u2019s kitchens, including at the acclaimed restaurants Commander\u2019s Palace<\/a>, Li\u2019l Dizzy\u2019s Cafe<\/a>, and Emeril\u2019s<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Perhaps no single dish is more legendary here than gumbo. A tapestry of influences comes together to create this flavourful stew, melding rice cultivation from West Africa, the use of spices and peppers from Spain, the \u201cHoly Trinity\u201d of onion, celery, and bell pepper from France, and sausage from Germany, then thickened by techniques perfected\u2014depending on your preferred style of gumbo\u2014by the French, Africans, or Indigenous Americans.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s why we offer two different kinds of gumbo,\u201d says Dario Montelvere, hotel executive chef at Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans<\/a>, which is located within a landmark modernist tower at the edge of the renowned French Quarter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At the hotel\u2019s Miss River restaurant, the gumbo \u201cfeatures duck and andouille sausage and is thickened with a roux, which is a French technique,\u201d explains Montelvere. Meanwhile, the property\u2019s Chemin \u00e0 la Mer Steakhouse & Seafood Bar<\/a> takes a different approach, offering a seafood-based version thickened with okra. \u201cWhich is the way Africans perfected it over many generations,\u201d says Montelvere. \u201cWe want our guests to learn and experience just how nuanced and interesting Creole cuisine really is.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Moutya dancers at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles.<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Sweet and Spicy in the Indian Ocean<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Creole identity exists outside the Western Hemisphere as well. In the Indian Ocean, off the eastern coast of Africa, on islands such as Mauritius, the Seychelles, and R\u00e9union, the Creole characteristic of mixing cultures to create something new is alive and well. The specific influences on these islands, however, are predictably different from what you would find half a world away.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe are very proud to be Creole on Mauritius\u2014as an identity and also with our French-Creole language and with our food,\u201d says Patrick Soochit, executive sous-chef at Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita<\/a>, where 136 villas and private residences sit amid lush gardens.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The island\u2019s food, as in the Americas, includes components derived from European colonial powers and the Indigenous people they encountered. The difference is that most of the enslaved people brought to this region by the Dutch, French, and British were from eastern Africa, including the Malagasy peoples of Madagascar. Later, when the British outlawed slavery in the 1830s, hundreds of thousands of indentured servants from India and China arrived on the islands to work on its sugar plantations for low wages.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The result, Soochit says, is a cuisine that blends cooking techniques from Europe with local ingredients and seafood, as well as a few twists.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cOur food is spicy, thanks to the spices from India and China,\u201d explains Soochit, \u201cbut, because of the Malagasy, it also features stews like rougaille and sweetness from coconut milk and vanilla.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Dishes, including chicken curry and palmist salad, from the Sware Kreol dining experience at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Four Seasons Resort Mauritius at Anahita<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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In Mauritius and in the Seychelles, Four Seasons properties are eager to show guests this unique blend of influences. Whether through food items, like dhol buri, coconut milk octopus curry, or Creole-style prawns with stewed \u200btomatoes and peppers; or through language, music, dance, and beachside social gatherings with friends and family, the Creole experience is everywhere.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cWe want to show it to you, because we are proud of it,\u201d says Perry Poris, sous-chef at Four Seasons Resort Seychelles at Desroches Island<\/a>, which hosts a weekly dining experience, La Tous Kreol. \u201cNot just because we are Seychellois, but because that means we are part French and part English, part Asian, and part African. We are a culture made from the world.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Last summer, Four Seasons Resort Seychelles debuted its own weekly dining \u200bexperience, Sware Kreol, featuring live authentic music, traditional Moutya and Sega dancing around a bonfire, barbecue, and Creole curries. Chef Marlene \u201cMama\u201d Adesoyede helps lead the event, which she calls a \u201clabor of love.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cGuests can taste my octopus curry and fresh meat and fish,\u201d Adesoyede says. \u201cThey can enjoy our music and learn our way of dancing. Seychellois Creole culture is beautiful and unique. You have to come experience it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

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Plaquemine Lock in London<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Something New<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cCultural purity is a thing of the past,\u201d says Professor Beriss. \u201cCreoleism is just one piece of proof. Almost everywhere you look on this planet, cultures are colliding and Creole-izing to create new cuisines\u2014and I think that\u2019s a very exciting thing to experience.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In South Africa, for example, Afrikaans is a language that mixed the languages of Dutch settlers, the Indigenous Khoisan, and enslaved Southeast Asian and African peoples. The food, says Rudi Liebenberg, executive chef at Four Seasons Hotel The Westcliff Johannesburg<\/a>, has been similarly Creole-ized. \u201cIt\u2019s sweet because of influences from the enslaved Malay, but spicy because of labourers from India,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe European settlers brought stews and baking and wine, and the Indigenous African people brought a culture of open-fire roasting\u2014we call it braai<\/em>\u2014that South Africa is famous for. Our cuisine as we know it today wouldn\u2019t be possible without all of this, which is the beauty of cultures coming together.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Diners around the world are recognizing that beauty. Chef Kwame Onwuachi is serving Creole-inspired cuisine to rave reviews at his restaurants Tatiana<\/a> in New York City and D\u014dgon in Washington, D.C., while chef Jacob Kenedy\u2019s Plaquemine Lock<\/a>, awarded Michelin Bib Gourmand status, is introducing London to the food of Louisiana. In Tokyo, Soul Food House<\/a> is giving diners the chance to dig into Creole favourites like seafood gumbo and blackened shrimp (in tacos).<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Photos by Charles Hemon. Plating at BRU in Paris<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Scallops at Bru in Paris<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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And in Paris, chef Julia de Laguarigue is bringing the cuisine from her Caribbean home of Martinique to her Bib Gourmand\u2013recognized restaurant BRU<\/a>, located in a classic neighbourhood bistro space. Her intention is to share the vibrant, balanced, and layered flavours of her Creole upbringing with a new audience. At the same time, she wants her food to taste like it belongs in France, so she is allowing it to continue to evolve and mix in its present environment.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cCooking in Martinique is something we do together,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s about sharing, gathering, and passing things down from one generation to another. I wanted diners in France to enjoy that experience and our flavours without [these elements] feeling out of place.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So she and her team experiment. One dish combines plantains with wild garlic, while another is a more refined version of the West Indian stew \u200bcolombo. \u201cThere are combinations of flavours at our restaurant [that] you would probably never find in the Caribbean,\u201d de Laguarigue says.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

But that is exactly what Creole cuisine has always been about\u2014combining disparate traditions to create something new, thrilling, and delicious.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A creative collision of African, Indigenous, and European flavours and techniques, this shape-shifting cuisine finds new recognition on the global stage as it continues to reinvent 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