CULTURAL FOOD CHOICES AND

PATTERNS
 ORIGIN AND
HISTORY OF
CARIBBEAN FOOD
 Amerindians
The Arawak, Carib, and Taino Indians were the first inhabitants of the Caribbean islands.
These first inhabitants occupied the present day islands of British Virgin Islands, Cuba,
Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Trinidad, and Jamaica. Being one of the oldest and most
influential societies in Caribbean history, they have influenced how we cook food as well as
the types of food that are eaten.
Methods of Cooking:
1. The Arawaks are the first people known to make a grate of thin green wood strips on
which they slowly cooked meat, allowing it to be enhanced by the flavour of the wood.
This grate was called a barbacoa, and the word we know today as barbeque is taken
from this early Indian cooking method.
2. Coating freshly caught fish or bird with mud and baking it on charcoal placed in a pit
dug in the sand. When done, the mud was scraped off taking with it feathers and scales.
Foods Commonly Eaten:
• Arawak, Carib, and Taino Indians would have grown most of the food they ate
on a daily basis. They ate vegetables and fruits such as papaw, yams, guavas,
and cassava.
• The Caribs are said to have made the first ‘pepperpot’ which is still eaten in
parts of Guyana and some of the islands. Pepperpot is a method of
preserving and cooking meats of all kinds, primarily game, in the fermented,
boiled juice of grated cassava roots (cassareep)
• The Carib Indians added more flavour to their food with hot pepper, sweet
basil, purslane, watercress, annatto (known as roucou in Trinidad) and allspice
(called pimento in Jamaica). They also added lemon and lime juice to their
meat and fish recipes.
 Pepperpot

Barbacoa Cooking
Africans
When the Europeans brought Africans slaves into the region, the slave’s diet
consisted mostly of food the slave masters did not want to eat. So the slaves
had to be inventive, and they blended their traditional African foods with
staples found on the islands.
The Africans introduced foods such as okra, callaloo, taro (coco), saltfish, ackee,
mangos and seasonings such as chive or scallion, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, allspice
(pimento) and hot pepper.
Using these foods that they brought from their homeland as well as those provided by the
slave masters, the Africans created dishes such as:
•Akkra - seasoned black eye peas, pounded and fried;
•Foo-Foo - any ground provision or a combination of ground provisions that have been
boiled, pounded or mashed, then formed into balls. It can be put into soups in the final
stages of the cooking process, but it's often served as a side dish, accompanied by a meat
or vegetable stew;
•Accra - a saltfish fritter also known as poor man’s fritter, macadam, staggerback and stamp
and go;
•Savoury “cook-up” cornmeal or fungee (funchi) dish;
•Sweet spicy corn/sweet potato/green banana or plantain steamed pudding - called
duckunoo/ blue drawers- Jamaica, pain me- Antigua, paimee- Saint Lucia and Trinidad and
Tobago and konkie- Virgin Islands and Barbados;
•Asham/ Brown George - a corn based dish made in Jamaica by parching dried corn,
bating it finely in a mortar, sifting it and mixing the sifted mixture with sugar. It is also known
as chillibibi
Akkra Paime
Asham/ Chillibibi Foo-Foo
 Europeans – British
When the British came to the region, they introduced some of their favourite dishes. These include:
•Black pudding - pig/cow/goat’s blood mixed with various spices, herbs, rice and potatoes
stuffed in its intestines. It also known as blood pudding/ blood sausage- English speaking
Caribbean, morcilla - Latin America, boudin antillais - French Caribbean and bloedwurst- Dutch
Caribbean
•White pudding - is black pudding without the blood which is quite popular in St. Vincent and the
Grenadines
•Souse- marinated meat of cooked pig’s head, tongue and trotters/ chicken feet/ cow heel with
sliced cucumbers in lime juice
The British also introduced the use of diary products, rich pastries, various sweets including
Christmas puddings, fruit salads and sweet bread (called bun in Jamaica and is eaten with
cheese at Easter time
Black Pudding Souse
Europeans - Spanish
Foods such as oranges, limes, plantains, figs, avocado, date palms, sugar cane,

grapes, tamarinds, coconuts, chick peas (channa), eggplant (melogene) and

spices such as ginger, cilantro, onion, garlic were introduced by the early

Spanish explorers to the islands.

Spaniards are also credited for the introduction of hot chocolate, marinated or

escoveitched fish (popular in Jamaica), refried beans, empanadas, and gizzada

(coconut tart)
Empanadas
Gizzada

Escoveitched Fish
Asians - East Indians
After the African slaves were emancipated, indentured labourers were brought
from India to replace them. These indentured labourers brought their traditional
foods, sweets, fruits and vegetables with them from India to the Caribbean.
They brought foods such as roti (paratha, dhalphourie, dosti, sada), several
varieties of squash (jhingee and lowkie), paddy rice (bhaat), dhal (split peas),
baigan (egg plant), aloo (potato), damadol (tomato), nariel (coconut), tarkaree
(cooked vegetables), ghee (clarified butter), bandhaniya (shadon beni) and
carili (bitter gourd); sweets such as khurma, peera, ladoo, goolab jamoon,
jellaby, goolgoolah (Ripe fig) and sawine.
Using these foods as a base, dishes such as dhal and rice, curried potato,
channa and meats, doubles, saheena, chokas and kuchela became a part of the
Caribbean cuisine.
Split Peas Dhal

Jellaby
Ladoo
Asians - Chinese
The Chinese, who came to the Caribbean at the same time of the East Indians as
indentured labourers brought their traditional cuisine but had to adapt since only a few
ingredients that could survive the long ship voyage, such as dried noodles, soy sauce,
and spices could be found. They used various cooking methods such as stir frying, deep
frying, steaming, and stewing.

Using the ability of adapting to the change in their environment, the Chinese are
credited for the introduction of several dishes:
•Chow Mein - stir-fried noodles with vegetables and sometimes meat or tofu
•Lo Mein - dish with egg noodles. It often contains vegetables and some type of meat or
seafood, usually beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or wontons. It can also be eaten with just
vegetables.
•Pow- small dumplings traditionally made with a pork filling, but these days the filling
can be chicken, vegetables, or something sweet.
•Wantons - flour-based wrappers filled with various meat and vegetable mixtures and
then deep fried until crispy.
•Fried Rice - dish of cooked rice that has been stir-fried in a wok or a frying pan and is
usually mixed with other ingredients such as eggs, vegetables, seafood, or meat. It is
often eaten by itself or as an accompaniment to another dish.
 Wantons
Lo Mein
Pow
DIVERSE CULTURAL
FOOD RELATED
CUSTOMS AND
PRACTICES
Throughout the Caribbean, foods have become a part of various customs and practices, either

cultural or religiously. These include:

1. Jerking, a method of cooking pork and chicken over an open fire which is very popular in

Jamaica, is said to stem from a combination of the two Amerindian cooking methods.

2. Soaking fruits in alcohol (brandy, wine) for black cake

3. Pastelles, black cake, sorrel and ginger beer for Christmas

4. Using banana leaves as plates at Hindu prayers (pujas)

5. Eating black eye peas and rice Old Years’ night to bring prosperity in the new year
6. Making chow with half ripe mangos/ plums/ pommecythere

7. Eating callaloo- is a dish typically made with callaloo bush. In the Caribbean, this dish is often

served as a side dish and calls for such ingredients as coconut milk and okra. Callaloo tends to be

different from island to island, for example in Jamaica they only use the callaloo leaf, salt, onions

and scallions simply steaming the vegetables while in Trinidad they use the okra and coconut milk
 IMPACT OF
AGRICULTURAL
PRACTICES
Use of Pesticides - Pesticides, which are any substance intended to prevent or destroy
pests, are used to protect food from bacteria, weeds, mold, insects and rodents. After
the produce is harvested and cleaned, residues for the pesticides can remain on the
food. The residues, although very minimal, can cause various health problems
(weakened immune and nervous systems, learning problems in children, increased risk
of breast cancer) over time as the amount of residue that remains in the body
increases.
Organic Farming - To prevent the development of health problems caused by using
pesticides, people may purchase food that are grown organically (without pesticides)
which are more expensive. The high price of these fruits and vegetables would cause a
large part of a population to prefer to buy convenience foods that are much cheaper
but also high in carbohydrates, fats and protein.