Just an update that I’ve arrived in Cairo, Egypt. If you want to follow along on this trip, I’m posting constantly on Instagram and Facebook. Getting ideas for lots of videos which I’ll post on YouTube in the coming months!

listen. we can't not get The Celery Video. I need to know how the vegetable famous for going bad in my fridge was once worth its weight in gold

Choctaw person here!!

The post-contact word in Chahtanompa for filé powder is derived from our word for okra (kombo), which was got from folk from West Africa

The name for sassafras is kvfi (kuh-feeh, false cognate with coffee), and kvfi hishi (sassafras leaves) were a significant trade item to French towns (Mobile and New Orleans especially). Over time, the Chahta trade name for filé became “kombo hakshish” after the dish it was used to season because that’s how strong the association became between filé powder and okra.

So gumbo comes from kigombo  no matter which route it took to English, bc the post-contact Chahta term for filé is derived from the name of the dish gumbo, which was just the word we took up for okra

The fun (if confusing) thing about the name “kombo hakshish” is it’s probably a pun! Hakshish is “root”, so this literally means “okra root”, but it refers to sassafras leaf powder—figuratively, though, it’s saying filé powder is the “root” of gumbo & pointing out that okra and filé are the two things that make a stew into gumbo (for us, anyway)

Kombo hakshish has been used in Southeastern cooking since forever, and it’s a very traditional seasoning in soups/stews (pairs wonderful with venison, duck, bison; is superb alongside our native squash—and really can make a pot of hominy *sing*). Linking kombo (okra) with filé points to the close association they gained in kombo (gumbo) while also underscoring that to us, a stew with filé is not gumbo unless it also has okra

Words like “kombo” and “hakshish” would have already been familiar market terms for colonial Europeans buying herbs and produce from Chahta trade-women. Describing filé powder as “kvfi hishi hituk” would likely be less clear/less easy to guess than “kombo hakshish” since that could be interpreted as “gumbo seasoning”

Max you can just assume that the answer to "just tell me if you want me to do a video on _____" will always be yes.

I love that when he’s first eating it he’s looking down at his dish like “Did I really make that?”

Yes, please do a whole video on the celery craze of the 19th century!

You know a recipe is good when Max's first words are "Oh my god!"

Hey Max. Historian, tour guide, native New Orleanian & lifetime resident here. I had always been told that sausage & other preserved meats, like tasso, made their way into gumbo during the war of 1812, due to fresh food supplies running low. No sources on that, though. I love that you focus on the crazy variety to be found in gumbo. You get a lot of purists fussing about how gumbo has to made only one way. It's your gumbo, you make it however you like, just like people have done for centuries. If other people don't like it, they don't need to eat it. More for you. Although yours looks pretty good, you probably won't get the whole pot to yourself.

"Where did all this flavor come from" is literally how I feel every time I make Gumbo. It's incredible how all the basic flavors come together to make something greater than the sum of their parts. What a wonderful dish.

10:02 this may be referring to dried shrimp which was typically used in traditional Shrimp based gumbo. A little known fact  were the “Manilamen" —18th-century Filipino sailors who escaped Spanish galleons and established the first Asian-American settlement, Saint Malo, in the Louisiana bayou in 1763. They revolutionized the local shrimping industry, by introducing dried shrimp which became a vital, savory ingredient in traditional Louisiana gumbo.

Loved the video.  I'm an 80 year old cajun.  Ate a lot of gumbo growing up.  Mainly chicken with a flour roux, later chicken and sausage.  Chicken and okra gumbo was made without a flour roux.  Enjoyed many gumbos made with wild duck, dove, and geese.  All gumbos had enough cayenne to give it a little kick.

I’m Cuban American, and in Cuba we have a traditional okra stew called quimbombó that’s strikingly similar to gumbo. Both dishes trace back to African culinary traditions carried across the Caribbean and the American South. It could be fascinating to explore how New Orleans and Cuba are connected through this shared history, culture, and food.

Max is absolutely phenomenal in his coverage of food history. And honestly?? The community here is always so excited, and criticism is constructive. I love seeing people talk about their families and how they cook different dishes, I’ve learned so much from not only Max, but the comments too!

Tuesdays are my Friday, so I’m always excited to wind down for my days off with new videos.

Lefkadios Hern deserves a whole movie about his life. He later became Japan's national poet

Fun fact: If you add just a bit of vinegar to your okra, it will deal with the "sliminess" of okra.

Edit: Holy CRAP! 600 likes? Thank you all so much! blinks surprised

Celery craze? Yes, please! Having grown all three styles - stalk, leaf and root - I fully understand why it might have been expensive.

There are three cities in the United States, San Francisco, New York and New Orleans. Everyplace else is Cleveland. Tennessee Williams

Love how lunch break on Tuesday is also Tasting History break, they do come around at the same exact time lol

Things I never thought I’d say: I’m here for the celery craze 🙋🏻‍♂️🤣

If you’re in the South, “crab” is not King crab or Dungeness crab, it’s blue crab.