In this culinary memoir, Ken Wells delves into the history and culture of gumbo, a dish that reflects the diversity of the people who cooked it up: French aristocrats, West Africans in bondage, Cajun refugees, German settlers, Native Americans. Wells travels his native Louisiana to spend time with chefs cooking gumbo, at gumbo contests, at a gumbo factory, and at an iconic New Orleans restaurant.

Includes recipes.

Roux awakening -- Academic gumbo: it's a swamp out there -- Gumbo gets going : Hank, Ted Kennedy, and the Great Wall of China -- Gumbo Inc. and the gumbo identity crisis -- The meaning of "T" : man in the land of a zillion chefs -- Feasting among the poule d'eau cookers -- Moby gumbo -- Ready, set, cook! -- Creole gets its Cajun on -- Gumbo hunting in Treme -- My gumbo life -- The glory of gumbo's pantry -- Gumbo as destiny -- Serpents on the Roux Bayou -- Bayou black today -- The gumbo highway and gumbo life converge.