<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve always been fascinated by the sister like relationship between New Orleans and Paris. Back in my sophomore year at Tulane, sitting on the top floor of Newcomb Hall in French 2030 with Professor Sabo, I began noticing just how deeply the two cities mirror each other. Amidst grammar drills and broken French conversations with my classmates, Professor Sabo shared a tidbit that stuck with me: Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans is named after the Champs-Élysées in Paris. That moment made me pause. The city that had become home to me in the last three years echoes a city halfway across the world. From architecture to food, festivals and symbols, New Orleans carries traces of its French heritage in every corner. This realization inspired me to explore the unique relationship between these two cities. </span></p>
<h3>Food and Cajun Flavors</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">New Orleans’ cuisine may be the clearest link to its French beginnings. Cajun and Creole dishes grew out of French settlers taking familiar recipes and reshaping them with the ingredients they found in Louisiana. The result is a cooking style that feels rich and layered, from the dark, slow-stirred roux that forms the base of gumbo to the warm, buttery tomato sauce of shrimp Creole and the fragrant mix of onions, celery and bell pepper known as “the trinity” that begins almost every dish in a New Orleans kitchen.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">French influence doesn’t stop with the city’s savory dishes. Beignets came to Louisiana with French colonists and Acadian settlers, who brought their tradition of frying dough for breakfast or holidays. Over time, the recipe settled into the simple square pastries New Orleans is known for today, each one covered in a cloud of powdered sugar. Sitting at Café du Monde with a warm beignet and a cup of café au lait, it’s easy to feel the echo of old French traditions that inspired this treat. The beignet may be modest, but it carries a clear line back to France, a small reminder of the city’s roots tucked into every bite.</span></p>
<h3>Music and Festivals</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">French heritage may show up in the food, but it comes alive in the city’s celebrations. Mardi Gras, the most famous of them all, grew out of French Catholic tradition. What started as a pre-Lenten Carnival in France gradually evolved as it mixed with Creole, Caribbean, and local customs, eventually becoming the enormous, spirited celebration New Orleans is known for today. Parades fill the streets with color, brass bands echo through every corner of the city, and masks sparkle with sequins and feathers. The festival feels unmistakably New Orleanian, but its French origin continues to linger.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The French influence continues in the city’s music. Street performers along Royal Street and Frenchmen Street often carry a hint of the old French love of performance and open-air entertainment. Jazz is a true product of New Orleans shaped by African, Caribbean, and American traditions, but early French settlers added their own pieces to the mix by bringing dance halls, opera houses, and small chamber ensembles to the city.</span></p>
<h3>Symbols and Streets</h3>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">French influence in New Orleans isn’t just heard and tasted; it’s seen everywhere, woven into the city&#8217;s architecture, symbols, and even street names. The fleur-de-lys, a stylized lily long associated with French royalty, has become one of the most recognizable emblems of New Orleans. It can be seen on lampposts, flags, iron balconies, and even the helmets of the New Orleans Saints. What was once a European symbol of monarchy now represents resilience, pride, and cultural continuity in a city that has reinvented itself again and again.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The French imprint is just as visible in the map of the city. Elysian Fields Avenue traces its name directly to Paris’s Champs-Élysées, the “Elysian Fields” of Greek mythology reimagined across continents. Learning this in Professor Sabo’s French class made me look differently at the streets I had been walking for years. Suddenly, a simple avenue became a bridge between two cities, a reminder that the geography of New Orleans carries a past from across the ocean.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Wrought-iron balconies, pastel facades, and winding streets all carry a trace of Paris. Still, New Orleans does not simply echo France. It reshapes it into something entirely its own, alive with a warm, Southern spirit that feels authentic and unique. </span></p>
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Between the Seine and the Mississippi: Exploring the Parallels of New Orleans and Paris
Feature image via Lexy Duvigneaud