gumbo

/ˌgʌmˈboʊ/

/ˈgʌmbəʊ/

Other forms: gumbos

Gumbo is a Louisiana Creole stew that's thick and spicy, usually containing shellfish and sausage and served over rice. When you're visiting New Orleans, you should definitely try some gumbo.

One of gumbo's traditional thickeners is the vegetable called okra, which is sometimes also called gumbo, from the Angolan word kingombo. The ingredients of an authentic gumbo can vary a lot, though it almost always starts with celery, onions, and peppers and flavorful stock. From there, it needs a thickener (either a roux or cooked okra), spices, and meat or shellfish. Gumbo is the official food of the state of Louisiana.

Definitions of gumbo

1. noun

   a soup or stew thickened with okra pods
   type of:

   soup

   liquid food especially of meat or fish or vegetable stock often containing pieces of solid food
2. noun

   a green pod vegetable with edible seeds, often used in soups and stews
   synonyms: okra

   type of:

   veg, vegetable, veggie

   edible seeds or roots or stems or leaves or bulbs or tubers or nonsweet fruits of any of numerous herbaceous plant
3. noun

   any of various fine-grained silty soils that become waxy and very sticky mud when saturated with water
   synonyms: gumbo soil

   type of:

   dirt, soil

   the part of the earth's surface consisting of humus and disintegrated rock
4. noun

   tall coarse annual of Old World tropics widely cultivated in southern United States and West Indies for its long mucilaginous green pods used as basis for soups and stews; sometimes placed in genus Hibiscus
   synonyms: Abelmoschus esculentus, Hibiscus esculentus, lady's-finger, okra, okra plant

   type of:

   herb, herbaceous plant

   a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests