(Photo via @dogmeatsfood)
People should know by now to never post photos of their takes on any of the cuisines native to Louisiana unless they also manage to fit three generations of Cajuns in the shot. Have they learned nothing from Disney’s healthy gumbo fiasco?
But that didn’t stop one bold (read: naive) Reddit user from posting a photo of his recent attempt at “jambalaya.” Featuring corn, shrimp and no visible rice, it raised more than a few hackles in the “Proud To Call It Home” crowd. Louisianans swamped the photo with negative comments when it was posted to the r/TastyFood subreddit, and the jokes only continued when a user brought it to the attention of New Orleans’ forum.
“This jambalaya is horrifying. Love, a Louisianan,” wrote user TheSocialABALady.
“I mean…. it looks good, but what is it??” added user KrisCahli. “There’s no way it can be called jambalaya.”
The original uploader, who posts under the name Turtleramem, dug themselves deeper as the ribbing went on. They tried to counter the criticism by saying that the dish was “jambalaya-inspired,” but the internet horde wasn’t having it.
“Jambalaya literally means “ham(pork) in rice” and is a descendant of Spanish paella,” responded user Evil-Natured-Robot. “This is not jambalaya, or even jambalaya inspired. This is shrimp and corn salad as best as I can tell.”
Other users tried to understand how the image up top could ever be confused for jambalaya.
“Definition of Jambalaya from anyone outside of south Louisiana: I put some cayenne pepper on it,” wrote user reddben.
We don’t know how Turtle got it in his head that corn should be anywhere near jambalaya. We don’t know where they’re sourcing his recipes from. We don’t know why they felt the need to post the results. All we really no for sure is that ain’t jambalaya.
