French Canadians from Nova Scotia settled in Louisiana, bringing with them their own cuisine and adding to it local spices and flavours. This resulted in a distinctive cuisine using spices includ8ing paprika, cumin and mustard seeds and cayenne, lots of green peppers, sharp dried celery powder (always detectable in their barbeque sauces) and with heavy use of thyme and oregano. These items are principally applied to barbecued meats. Cajun cuisine also makes great use of gumbo or okra, and crayfish, and rice is the staple starch.
