The “Creole-Cocoa” Cook™
She’ll correct you in a South Louisiana second! - “Everything is not Cajun!” and you DO NOT have to have the mythical Mulatto features to be classified as CREOLE, says Panderina Soumas author of Soumas Heritage Creole Cookbook and owner and operator of Soumas Heritage Creole Creations. The “Creole-Cocoa” Cook™ is available for lectures, public speaking events / conferences, Mistress of Ceremonies duties, cooking demonstrations & product representation. Spice up your next meeting or event with Panderina Soumas and her Creole legendary stories from her family, all with historical humor to bring everything The “Creole-Cocoa” Cook™ has to offer. All lectures, cooking demonstrations etc... are customized to fit each particular audience who is hungry for historical legends as well as creative Creole cuisine. Panderina’s roots run deep into the rich history of Louisiana Creoles of Color through her foremothers and fathers “footstep-stories” that have trailed the bayous of South Louisiana. With eye-opening knowledge from her ancestral legends lie the bittersweet tones of pre-colonial Louisiana history on sugar cane & cotton plantations to the many legendary marks her ancestors have planted. The source of what Panderina calls “the Creoles of Color”, plays a key role in flavoring and shaping most of South Louisiana’s culture and history.
It was Panderina’s pride and respect for her Creole heritage that prompted her to write her “cook-history” cookbook, and to enrich cooking demonstrations and presentations for special scheduled speaking events to tell her stories and to pass on her history from remembered and shared stories from ancestors gone by. The ever present confusion and controversy about “Creoles of Color”, it’s meaning?...who should it be?...who should it look like?...what language it will speak?...and the “bittersweet tones” of the many untold truths and buried denials of slaves, slave-owners, house-mammy’s and the multi-cultural influences on the many generations of children and plantation life have cultivated the culture of Creoles of Color in Louisiana and much of the South. Certainly a painful but prideful era that put them to an innocent shame through no fault of their own lifetime in history or as human beings. Panderina Soumas feels a deep-rooted obligation to pay the utmost respect to the many slave men, women and children who undoubtedly deserve all our respect from an era of denial and unbeknown that cultivated much of the Creoles of Color today and for many generations forthcoming. Soumas Heritage Creole Cookbook is seasoned and flavored with historical anecdotes and tidbits that make it good reading with humor as well as good eating. The book naturally led her to market her Creole products and gifts, presenting and preserving her Creole culture in a different light like no other in Louisiana. Her pre-packaged Creole Red Beans and Rice, for example, is accompanied by an explanation for the dish’s traditional appearance on Monday menus in most Louisiana restaurants, a tradition that derives from the days of slavery. The first printing of Soumas Heritage Creole Cookbook sold out and a second / updated printing is now available through the author as well as an impressive websight to behold her image of products and business. (www.soumascreole.com)
In the meantime, Panderina is still combining her expertise in cuisine with her knowledge of history and her Creole heritage, offering her own special line of pre-packaged Creole food products, from “Panderina’s Pralines” to her “Jumpin-Da-Broom Jambalaya Mix”. Many accompanied by an insight into how or why the dish came about or the part it played in the history of Creoles of Color in Louisiana. Panderina says many people do not understand the difference between Cajun and Creole, believing them to be the same. “But they are entirely different groups, with respected similarities” she says. “Cajun is from ‘Acadian’, the French speaking whites driven from Nova Scotia who settled on the Gulf Coast from western Mississippi to eastern Texas and eventually made the bayous of south Louisiana their home,” says Panderina. “But the Creoles of Color were primarily French and Spanish speaking slaves from Africa, Haiti and various parts of the Caribbean, whom were brought here for auction or came as servants”. Creole in its broadest sense can refer to a variety of combinations of French, Spanish, African, Caribbean, and Native American Indian cultures in colonial Louisiana and throughout the south.
The word Creole coming from the Spanish “criollo” meaning “created race” was a description given from a Spanish priest to describe the offspring of Spanish, French and Africans from the era of slavery. In early 19th century New Orleans and much of south Louisiana, the term Creole was a way that those “born in and of the colony” or “plantation born” created a cultural group, blending the rich heritage of African, French, Spanish, Caribbean, and Native Indian cultures. Unfortunately this creative culture has many myths of what or who suppose to look like in terms of skin hues to claim the culture of being Creole. Creole is a culture, not the color of your skin, hair texture, or lineage of perceptions left over from the “hangover-era” of slavery. This battle is still at the forefront for many Louisiana Creoles of color, as well as white Creoles of majority European ancestry. Still today this topic brings social issues, controversy & confusion as well as the unfortunate separation of the Creole culture among Creoles in general due to skin hues and social statuses. Many aspects of this seasoned and cultivated culture has historical legends that whisper in the winds of Louisiana and southern history of ALL the cultures that make CREOLE, no matter what the color may be.
Creoles of Color quickly earned a reputation for being resilient, intelligent, resourceful, and were regarded as possessing an innate wisdom and insight from their struggled survival of cultural blends. Many Creoles of Color brought with them the mystic practices and beliefs of Voodoo to North America and cultivated it alongside their Catholic beliefs. The Catholic religion remains today the dominant religion in South Louisiana among most Creoles of Color and white Creoles. From there, Creoles played a major role in the history of Louisiana, New Orleans in particular, in political as well as social arenas, but today they are most noted for their contribution to the evolution of what is now called Louisiana cuisine & culture.
Panderina Soumas richly enhances any speaking event with her breathtaking stories from family legends as well as her ability to involve her audience in sharing their stories of ancestral heritage. If your event is privileged to include her cooking demonstration with recipes from her cookbook along with her passionate love of Zydeco music & dancin’...... You talk about a treat!...You’ll be cookin’...dancin’...and speaking-a-little Creole!... Simmer that with a great and enthusiastic audience...You’ll think you on `da’ bayou `yeah’! Soumas Heritage Creole Cookbook is a must have for cooks of all cultures! Panderina D. Soumas is the eldest of four children born to Clyde A. Soumas, Sr. & Greta M. McCaleb-Soumas. Though she had the advantages and privileges of U.S. Air Force travels as a young child, today she maintains the enriched carvings in her life were exclusively inspired and focused by her South Louisiana Creole heritage bloodline. These ancestral legends have enriched her life with cultural pride from stories and recipes, to the many proud accomplishments throughout her family tree today. Her ancestral roots flow through the bayous of St. Francisville, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Mandeville, LaCombe, Houma, and Bayou La Fourche, Louisiana. Remembering the many ancestral connections that make up who she is today and flavoring her culture with pride and original distinctions throughout her works.
Aside from her business, Soumas Heritage Creole Creations, she is the self appointed family historian, and devotes much of her time and energy to cultural and civic activities in the community. Panderina has served as a board member for the Bossier City Arts Council and has spoken at many area schools for Louisiana history day, sharing the enlightening contributions of Creole culture from African-French Plantation slavery from her family history. Panderina has participated with the Shreveport Regional Arts Council with the Franco `Fete’ celebrations as well as the areas ArtBreak Festival, sharing her talents in crafts & history. A frequent guest on the local Shreveport “What’s Going On Show”, Panderina has made a special guest appearance at Grambling State University for the Leadership, Entertainment, Hospitality, and Education Conference in 1998, where her business hosted “The Taste of Creole Continental Breakfast”. Panderina feels an historical and legendary obligation to respect the many footsteps of forefathers and mothers of a bittersweet untold era of Afro- Creole culture in Louisiana. She is the sister of Clyde Soumas, Jr., Karen Soumas-Lewis and Donavon Soumas, her most prestigious title being the mother of Damon Soumas, and the grandmother of Kaidan & Sean.
For bookings / contract informational packet for
The “Creole-Cocoa” Cook™ for your upcoming event of culture: please inquire / request to:
pansou@bellsouth.net. – www.soumascreole.com
Soumas Heritage Creole Creations
P.O. Box 6372
Bossier City, Louisiana 71171-6372
(318) 747-4068 – (318) 549-0327-fax