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Old 05-13-2013, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Crooklyn, New York
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Quote:
Originally Posted by P London View Post
Gumbo is a African American dish BajanYankee..
I'm well aware of that. My point was that gumbo is as distinct in America as cou cou is. Outside of Louisiana and small patches of Texas and Mississippi, gumbo is not something commonly served in African American households.
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Old 05-13-2013, 11:49 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BajanYankee View Post
Because most West Indians are black. That's why people often make the comparison. For many West Indians, you would not know they were West Indian unless you asked them or they had an accent that obviously gave it away.
Again that is no reason to make the comparison with African-Americans, who are one ethnic group within one nation. So-called "blacks" are from all over the world and have different cultures and traditions.
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Old 05-13-2013, 12:29 PM
 
Location: Crooklyn, New York
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Quote:
Originally Posted by caribdoll View Post
Again that is no reason to make the comparison with African-Americans, who are one ethnic group within one nation. So-called "blacks" are from all over the world and have different cultures and traditions.
The comparison has already been made. And people have already contributed to the thread and stated some of the differences between West Indians and African Americans. So there's really nothing you can do about it now, is there?
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Old 05-13-2013, 12:53 PM
 
Location: California
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BajanYankee View Post
There's nothing in America that much resembles gumbo either.

The cuisine of the West Indies is quite different. But you don't have to search hard to find the similarities with Black American cuisine. Collard greens, for example, are often served as part of Barbadian dishes. Macaroni pie is similar to macaroni and cheese in the States, but it's a spicier version, imo. And brown stewed chicken over rice, a Jamaican classic, is not that different from a lot of stewed beef dishes made by blacks here.

Bajans are also big on fried foods and pork.

So I think the similarities are not hard to identify. Obviously, there are foods down there that are not easily accessible here, but the parallels between some West Indian and African American dishes can be striking.
History professor Dr. Frederick Opie has written on the similarities between various black cuisines of the Western Hemisphere. He also shows there are major links between cooking styles and ingredients used on many West African dishes and traditional African American dishes. His book Hog and Hominy is an excellent read.

SN: Due to the great migration a lot of traditional Southern dishes are cooked through out the country now. Gumbo can be found all over. That is especially true for places like California where the vast majority of blacks here trace their families to back to Louisiana and Texas.
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Old 05-13-2013, 01:44 PM
 
351 posts, read 692,375 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by caribdoll View Post
Again that is no reason to make the comparison with African-Americans, who are one ethnic group within one nation. So-called "blacks" are from all over the world and have different cultures and traditions.
Since many West Indians are of African descent, were taken from similar regions in West Africa as AAs were and also have a similar history regarding how they got to their respective parts of the world I don't think it's too much of a stretch for those not in the know to want to compare the two groups. However people who are familiar with both groups would of course know that they are quite different. I liken it to trying to compare Germanic descended people of modern England to those of modern Germany.

If we were comparing Zulu to African American though (for example) that would be pretty much a stretch and an odd concept to consider as the two groups have nothing in common apart from both being defined as "black" to Americans.
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Old 05-13-2013, 02:35 PM
 
6,082 posts, read 6,006,523 times
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Originally Posted by caribdoll View Post
Again that is no reason to make the comparison with African-Americans, who are one ethnic group within one nation. So-called "blacks" are from all over the world and have different cultures and traditions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by thewitchisback View Post
Since many West Indians are of African descent, were taken from similar regions in West Africa as AAs were and also have a similar history regarding how they got to their respective parts of the world I don't think it's too much of a stretch for those not in the know to want to compare the two groups. However people who are familiar with both groups would of course know that they are quite different. I liken it to trying to compare Germanic descended people of modern England to those of modern Germany.

If we were comparing Zulu to African American though (for example) that would be pretty much a stretch and an odd concept to consider as the two groups have nothing in common apart from both being defined as "black" to Americans.
Pretty much agree with the above.

The OP is comparing entire nations, of which not all the populations are of African descent, with a single ethnic group from one particular nation.

It might be better to narrow the focus a little.
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Old 05-13-2013, 02:50 PM
 
Location: Crooklyn, New York
31,887 posts, read 34,396,755 times
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Originally Posted by kovert View Post
Pretty much agree with the above.

The OP is comparing entire nations, of which not all the populations are of African descent, with a single ethnic group from one particular nation.

It might be better to narrow the focus a little.
No, not really. Only on City-Data do things have to be broken down into excruciating hyper-detail. If you simply Google "West Indians and African Americans," you'll come across countless threads and articles where the two groups have been compared before. Nobody said, "Well, we're comparing nations to an ethnic group." It's well understood by most sane people that the vast majority of West Indians, particularly in Jamaica and Barbados (two of the countries specified in the OP) are of West African descent. Even in Trinidad, it could technically be said that the majority have some African descent since a good 20-30% of the population could be classified as "dougla."

There's really no reason to make this any harder than it is on IslandMix, NYCaribbeanVibes, etc. and other places where this topic has been beaten to death.
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Old 05-13-2013, 05:31 PM
 
15,072 posts, read 6,107,558 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BajanYankee View Post
The comparison has already been made. And people have already contributed to the thread and stated some of the differences between West Indians and African Americans. So there's really nothing you can do about it now, is there?
Apparently the thrust of my post missed you...LOL. No need to get catty and crazy there.
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Old 05-13-2013, 05:35 PM
 
15,072 posts, read 6,107,558 times
Reputation: 5121
Quote:
Originally Posted by thewitchisback View Post
Since many West Indians are of African descent, were taken from similar regions in West Africa as AAs were and also have a similar history regarding how they got to their respective parts of the world I don't think it's too much of a stretch for those not in the know to want to compare the two groups. However people who are familiar with both groups would of course know that they are quite different. I liken it to trying to compare Germanic descended people of modern England to those of modern Germany.

If we were comparing Zulu to African American though (for example) that would be pretty much a stretch and an odd concept to consider as the two groups have nothing in common apart from both being defined as "black" to Americans.
Not a stretch but it just seems a bit simplistic, for lack of better words.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kovert View Post
Pretty much agree with the above.

The OP is comparing entire nations, of which not all the populations are of African descent, with a single ethnic group from one particular nation.

It might be better to narrow the focus a little.
Exactly.
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Old 05-13-2013, 05:41 PM
 
Location: Crooklyn, New York
31,887 posts, read 34,396,755 times
Reputation: 14971
Quote:
Originally Posted by caribdoll View Post
Apparently the thrust of my post missed you...LOL. No need to get catty and crazy there.
No, the "thrust" of your post did not miss me. You said you didn't like the comparison because it compares an ethnic group (African Americans) to a cultural group (West Indians). It was then explained to you that the comparison does make sense (even to West Indians posting on sites such as IslandMix) because the majority of West Indians don't look much different from black people. It's that simple.
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