Nowhere else in North America do food, story, and song sublimely intertwine as they do in Gumbo Nation, the Gulf South region that stretches from east Texas past the Mississippi delta country and clear around to the Florida Keys. Fish, shellfish, turtles, and fowl have found a paradise here, although that paradise has recently been ravaged by the drilling of oil wells, the trawling of ocean bottoms, and the devastating floods following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Over eighty traditional foods are now threatened or endangered in Gumbo Nation.
Nevertheless, the indigenous, Cajun, Creole, and Cracker cultures of Gumbo Nation have always manifested great resilience, as their “White Boot Brigade” of shrimpers has recently demonstrated. They continue to forage for the sassafras leaves needed for gumbo filé, to grow the okras needed for other gumbos, and to fish for crabs, shrimp, groupers, gators, and redfish. Their cuisines blend Native American, African, Caribbean, French, and Spanish influences in astonishing ways that have made them world famous.
– excerpted from Renewing America’s Food Traditions, edited by Gary Nabhan, with the permission of Chelsea Green Publishing (www.chelseagreen.com)
Disappearing Foods | Recipes | Tips | Related Links | Full List of Disappearing Foods | Back to Map
Disappearing Foods
- Creole Butternut Squash
- Daybreak Strawberry
- Duncan Grapefruit
- Florida Cracker Cattle
- Georgia Green Collards
- Louisiana Arledge Hot Pepper
- Paydon Heirloom Acorn Squash
- Pre-Civil War Peanut
- Royal Palm Turkeys
- Wilson Popenoe Avocado
- See Full List
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Tips to preserve heritage and heirloom foods:
- Become a seed saver through the Seed Saver Exchange (seedsavers.org).
- Purchase heirloom produce and heritage livestock breeds (American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, albc.usa.org).
- If you think a food is endangered, nominate it to the Slow Ark of Taste, slowfoodusa.org.
- Support community agriculture, farmers' markets and local food groups.
- Attend events that celebrate local foods.
Read more about Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT).
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Related Links
America’s Best Farmers’ Markets
Native Nutrition: A movement to preserve heritage foods
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Disappearing Foods (Full List)
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Abbeville Jujube
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Alabama Shad
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Alabama Sturgeon
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American Alligator
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American Crocodile
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Benoist Blunt Okra
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Big Frosty Bean
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Blue Goose (Gray) Crowder
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Brown Crowder
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Calico Crowder
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Cauley Apples
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Centennial Pecan
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Choctaw Sweet Potato Squash
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Clay Cowpea
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Clay Field Pea
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Cotton Patch Geese
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Creole Butternut Squash
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Cubalaya Chickens
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Datil Pepper
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Daybreak Strawberry
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Dr. Greenleaf's Tabasco Pepper
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Duncan Grapefruit
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Fitzgerald Jujube
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Flatwoods Plum
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Florida Collards
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Florida Cracker Cattle
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Galveston Bay Oyster
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Georgia Blue Stem Collards
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Georgia Green Collards
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Georgia Long Standing Collards
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Georgia Roaster Squash
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Golden Boy Pear
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Green Sea Turtle
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Guinea Pigs
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Gulf Coast Sheep
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Gulf Sturgeon
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Gulfcoast Highbush Blueberry
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Hackworth Apples
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Hamlin Orange
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Hasting's Prolific Corn
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Hawksbill Sea Turtle
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Headliner Strawberry
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Honey Drip Sorghum
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Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
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Key Deer
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Key Lime, West Indies Lime
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Klondike Strawberry
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Liberty Grape
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Loggerhead Sea Turtle
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Louisiana Arledge Hot Pepper
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Louisiana Black Bear
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Louisiana Green Velvet Mustard
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Louisiana Mirliton Chayote/Vegetable Pear
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Louisiana Pecher Peach
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Louisiana Red Okra
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Louisiana Shallot Onion
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Louisiana White Peach
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Magdeburg (Louisiana) Coffee Chicory
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Marsh Seedless Grapefruit
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Mississippi Brown Crowder
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North Carolina Seedling Pomegranate
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Ohio/Mississippi River Shrimp
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Okeechobee Gourd Squash
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Orange Top Sorghum
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Pallid Sturgeon
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Paydon Heirloom Acorn Squash
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Pigott Family Heirloom Cowpeas (Crowders/ Black-eyes)
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Pineywoods Cattle
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Pink Eye Purple Hull Cowpeas (Crowders/ Black-eyes)
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Ponderosa Lemon
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Pre-Civil War Peanut
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Queen (Atlantic) Conch
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Red Snapper
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Red Wattle Pigs
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Redfish/Red Drum Redfish
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Rooster Spur Pepper
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Rouge Et Noir Cowpeas (Crowders/ Black-eyes)
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Royal Palm Turkeys
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Running Conch Cowpeas (Crowders/ Black-eyes)
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Sassafras Leaves for Handmade Gumbo Filé
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Scrub Plum
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Seminole Squash
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Sherwood Jujube
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Short Yellow Tabasco Pepper
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Southern Delight Sweet Potato
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Southern Queen Yam/White Triumph Sweet Potato
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St. Croix Sheep
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Suzanne Cream Cowpeas (Crowders/ Black-eyes)
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T.O. Warren's Opaca Hawthorn
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Tabasco Pepper
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Tangi Strawberry
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Tennessee Sweet Potato Cushaw Squash
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Texas Long Sweet Sorghum
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Texas Star Banana
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Warsaw Grouper
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Western Mayhaw Hawthorn
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Whippoorwill Cowpeas (Crowders/ Black-eyes)
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Wilson Popenoe Avocado
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