Known as The Cajun Ninja, Jason Derouen has gone from an everyday guy, following his passion for cooking, to a social media sensation. He has attracted followers in his home state of Louisiana, across the country, and around the world.
The Houma, Louisiana, native was thrown into social media stardom in October 2016 after uploading a video to Facebook of him cooking gumbo. “I uploaded it on a Monday night, and when I woke up, I saw it had been shared 11 times. Videos I had uploaded before maybe only got shared twice,” recounted Derouen. “By lunchtime, it had been shared 150, 600 by that night. I remember telling somebody, ‘I think I have a viral video.’” That video now has more than 1 million views, and The Cajun Ninja Facebook page has climbed to 1 million-plus followers. The timing couldn’t have better — Derouen had been a sales representative in the oilfield and recently laid off.
An entertainer by nature, but not a chef by trade, Derouen grew up surrounded by cooking — his mother the classic “let-me-cook-it-for-you Cajun lady” and his father a passionate disciple of the Food Network. In his early twenties, Derouen began creating Frankenstein recipes through trial and error.
In his videos, his personality is front and center — unscripted, high-energy, and littered with quotable catchphrases like, “Let’s get cracka-lackin!” and “Pi-yahhhhh!” Watch one video, then you’re sucked in. It’s easy to see why fans keep coming back, hungry for more. “What you see on camera is what you get when you actually meet me. People know when something is fake. That’s what makes my videos unique. I’m also probably the only guy you’ll ever see chop vegetables with his own hand,” Derouen laughed, referring to his iconic ninja chopping style.
It’s also worth mentioning that this “Cajun Ninja” is the real deal. “I’m a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo, and I part-own my own Taekwondo school, Houma Martial Arts,” he said. “So the name’s a cross between my Cajun heritage and my love of martial arts.”
For this ninja, it’s a family enterprise of hard work and gratitude. “When it comes to social media, it’s very easy to look at what someone else is doing and think you’re behind,” he said. “If you’re doing something you love, you’re winning. You gotta make happiness before you make currency.”
Derouen has a line of Cajun Ninja apparel, homeware, and a new seasoning, aptly called, “Pi-Yahhhhh!!,” on shelves now. Follow Derouen’s recipes and on-camera antics on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and TikTok.