Jambalaya

Jambalaya is traditionally made in three parts, with meats and vegetables, and is completed by adding stock and rice. It is also a close cousin to the saffron colored paella found in Spanish culture. There are two primary methods of making jambalaya.
There are many myths about the origin of the name "jambalaya." The most commonly repeated folklore is that the word derives from the combination of the French "jambon" meaning ham, the French article "à la" a contraction of "à la manière de" meaning "in the style of", and "ya", thought to be of West African origin meaning rice.Hence, the dish was named jamb à la ya. European explorers had imported rice from Asia and Africa. Enslaved Africans already had a native name for this crop; they called it "ya". As Europeans learned the term "ya" for rice, it became included in the name of the dish. However, this theory is largely discredited. Ham is not the signature element of the dish, so there is no reason why it would be featured in the name. Furthermore, there is no known African language in which "ya" means "rice." There are two African languages in which "ya", or a variant on "ya," refers to the grain sorghum. "Rice" is virtually always some form of "riz" or "arroz."