Some Like It Hot Video & Blog

It's funny to me how the delicious, yet un-fanciest of foods sometimes become such delicacies. Lobster, steak tartare, sushi, etc. were all once considered food for your everyday Joe, but today, they're menu specialties. Cajun food is another good example.

Inspired by French Canadian, Spanish, Indian and English influences, Cajun Country grub began as a poor-man's cuisine — a mixture of this, that and just whatever was available. Early settlers prepared food from what they found organically on the land and in the waters out of necessity to survive: grain, rice, vegetables, fruits, seafood and basically any kind of meat.

These "Acadians" also learned the techniques of using spices. Like tomato, basil and garlic to Italians, onions, celery and bell peppers soon became the holy trinity of Cajun food. Boudin, jambalaya and gumbo are good representatives of the early "throw everything in together, and spice it up" Southern Louisiana style of cooking.

But today, the zing and zang of the often spicy Louisiana dishes is benevolently revered from the West Coast to the East Coast, and around the world.

Crawfish etouffée. Gumbo. Po' boys. Jambalaya. Boiled crawfish. Red beans and rice — it's all in a day's meal in Louisiana. And restaurants like Restaurant August in New Orleans, Mansurs On the Boulevard in Baton Rouge and Café Vermilionville in Lafayette are just a few of the famous Southern Louisiana dining hotspots.

And it's not just the Cajun flavor that get people fired up about Louisiana cuisine; it's the seemingly inevitable celebrations that surround every meal.

Are you ready to kick it Cajun style?