Spanish people made paella which is also a one-pot rice dish cooked with meats and vegetables.

Historians who researched the records of slave narratives say they point to a possible Caribbean and African origin of the dish.

[11] According to a Smithsonian Institution folklife article, jambalaya is a syncretic blend of West African, French, and Spanish influences.

The territory of Louisiana was colonized by the French and Spanish during the colonial period and imported enslaved West Africans who had knowledge of rice cultivation.

West Africans today still add spicy seasonings to their one-pot rice cooked meals.

[15] According to research from Taharka Adé, an associate professor in the Department of Africana Studies at San Diego State University, the French introduced the tomato (a food native to the Americas) to Senegambians and Akan people in the rice growing regions of West Africa and through this interaction West Africans enhanced a dish called Jollof.

Within the very same time frame a mix of west African people (which included Senegambians and Akan) living in southern Louisiana, and particularly New Orleans, created another rice and tomato based dish known as Jambalaya, denoting a shared relationship and underpinning West African influence on the creation of Jambalaya.

[16] Author Ibraham Seck, director of research at the Whitney Plantation Slave Museum in St. John the Baptist Parish, suggests jambalaya originated on the Senegalese coast of West Africa.

[17] An article from the United Nations states that the cuisines of Nigeria, Senegal, Guinea, and Benin influenced the development of jambalaya: "Jambalaya (mixed rice, meat and vegetables), feijoada (black beans and meat), gombo(okra), and hopping johns (peas) are all dishes that have been re-adapted from Senegal, Nigeria, Guinea and Benin.

However, French pilau does not add seafood and meat which is typically done in Spanish Valencian paella, West African, and Caribbean cuisines.

[24][1] French influence was strong in New Orleans, and native spices from Louisiana, the Gulf Coast and the Caribbean may have changed this pilaf or paella into a unique New World dish.

As author and professor Judith Carney explains: "...jambalaya resulted from cooking raw rice in the broth of stew composed of ingredients from many cultural heritages.

[26] Étouffée is a stew that always includes shellfish such as shrimp or crawfish but does not have the sausage common to jambalaya and gumbo.

Rice dishes with meats and vegetables cooked in one pot with spices is a common meal in West Africa.

[27][28] Jollof rice from West African cuisine influenced the jambalaya made in African-American communities.

The bits of meat that stick to the bottom of the pot (sucs) are what give a Cajun jambalaya its brown color.

The trinity (of 50% onions, 25% celery, and 25% green or red bell pepper, although proportions can be altered to suit one's taste) is added and sautéed until soft.

The mixture is brought to a boil and left to simmer for 20 to 60 minutes, depending on the recipe, with infrequent stirring.

Authors Abby Fisher and Karen Hess stated Creole New Orleans jambalaya is "soupy."

Acadiana style jambalaya originates from Louisiana's rural, low-lying swamp country where crawfish, shrimp, oysters, alligator, duck, turtle, boar, venison, nutria[34] and other game were readily available.

This dish is rare in Louisiana as it is seen as a "quick" attempt to make jambalaya, popularized outside the state to shorten cooking time.

The first appearance in print of any variant of the word 'jambalaya' in any language occurred in Leis amours de Vanus; vo, Lou paysan oou théâtré, by Fortuné (Fortunat) Chailan, first published in Provençal dialect in 1837.

The earliest appearance of the word in print in English occurs in the May 1849 issue of the American Agriculturalist, page 161, where Solon Robinson refers to a recipe for "Hopping Johnny (jambalaya)", however he made a mistake in identifying jambalaya as "Hopping Johnny", which is an entirely different dish with different origins and different birth state.

Jambalaya did not appear in a cookbook until 1878,[36] when the Gulf City Cook Book, by the ladies of the St. Francis Street Methodist Episcopal Church, was printed in South Mobile, Alabama.