re: Gumbo Recipe - step by step

I've got a good friend who always volunteers to make a "gumbo" for one of our tailgates every year. Except he starts the process by dumping water in a pot and then throwing in his trinity....and there isn't a roux to be found. I've called him out on it before by complimenting his chicken soup, and his rebuttal is just that he doesn't use roux in his gumbo. I just shake my head and quietly wonder who the frick I've been friends with for the past 20 years.