Caribbean Food
October 31, 2006
To me, Caribbean Food is complex yet simple, rich yet humble and it is definitely more than a flower or fruit garnish on a plate. Our heritage is rife with diversity and it shows in our food – Chinese, African, Indian, Portugese, English and Native Indian. While our cuisine cannot be seen as authentic Chinese, Indian, African etc. the influence has definitely made our cuisine unique and exotic.
It pains me when I travel and encounter a dish that advertises itself on the menu as Caribbean only to come just garnished with a piece of fruit well-known in the Caribbean. I can hear my mother’s warning ages ago: don’t go to an Italian Restaurant, order their interpretation of a Chinese dish and complain that it lacked the flavour and taste you were expecting or vice versa.
Share your thoughts on Caribbean Food and what it means to you.
Entry Filed under: Musings. .
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Anonymous | December 10, 2006 at 1:09 pm
Yeah what’s the Mango fetish that American restaurants have? They assume if you put a mango salsa on a meal then you can go ahead and label it authentically Caribbean. It’s like the actors on the screen who feel that by putting “Mon” at the end of a sentence it means they have captured the essence of Carbbean speech. They should do their homework – its not even really about making us in the Caribbean feel that we are properly represented, surely its really about having pride in your craft as a restaurater/chef/actor whatever to do what you say you’re going to do.