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Yes, Guyanese are culturally Caribbean. It is like a sister country to Trinidad in certain ways. There is significant overlap when it comes to food. We'll always argue whose roti & curry are best...lol.
I've had less Spanish Caribbean food only b/c i'm vegetarian. The English and French (probably excluding Haiti) seem to have more options in that area. Could be wrong though...
Yea, it definitely feels like English Caribbean has significantly more vegetarian offerings across the board. If we want to go back to that other discussion, this might have to do with 1) how slaves in Spanish Caribbean colonies probably ate pretty similarly to non-slaves and had a higher degree of co-mingling than the English Caribbean counterparts in an age where meat was a rarity and specialty which probably wasn't as available to slaves in the English colonies and 2) English colonies had much larger immigrant component from South Asia which has a lot of cuisines that heavily favor vegetarian dishes.
Out of curiosity, what's your experience with and general opinion of Ital foods? Do you think of it is as particularly distinctive? Are there particular recipes you like and recommend?
Yea, it definitely feels like English Caribbean has significantly more vegetarian offerings across the board. If we want to go back to that other discussion, this might have to do with 1) how slaves in Spanish Caribbean colonies probably ate pretty similarly to non-slaves and had a higher degree of co-mingling than the English Caribbean counterparts in an age where meat was a rarity and specialty which probably wasn't as available to slaves in the English colonies and 2) English colonies had much larger immigrant component from South Asia which has a lot of cuisines that heavily favor vegetarian dishes.
Out of curiosity, what's your experience with and general opinion of Ital foods? Do you think of it is as particularly distinctive? Are there particular recipes you like and recommend?
It likely may be more of a diversity/immigration from Asia issue than one of slavery. My reason being that there are less options in English-speaking islands with less diversity from the Asian side, similar to the Spanish Caribbean. Meat/flesh stews are very common in the English Caribbean, i.e. stew beef, stew chicken, callaloo w/crab, cow heel soup, souse etc. Vegetables are commonly eaten with meals though.
For example, you can go to a Jamaican restaurant abroad and find zero vegetarian meal options. I've been to a number of Jamaican restaurants that have roti available only when the Trini or Guyanese brings/makes it. Then they will offer curry veggies with it. If not, meat. Whereas, I've never been to a Trini spot that did not offer vegetarian meals.
Not sure about all of that discussion regarding slavery, and those posters seem very deep into slavery-related issues. Honestly, the prevalence of stews in the English Caribbean may be African retention because there is plenty of that in West Africa. The prevalence blue foods may stem from African retention, Amerindian cuisine and also the diet during slavery. But overall, it does seems to lean more on the diversity issue.
Not really familiar with Ital foods, at least in title and specific experience. That's more a Rasta thing, more confined to Jamaica and probably the smaller groups of Rastas in each island. It does seem heavy on the blue foods which are eaten all over, so the foods are probably common among vegetarians across the islands.
Last edited by ReineDeCoeur; 05-25-2015 at 09:41 AM..
Their local historians are always searching for African signs of identity, but most move to laughter since everything is rather English.
books.
I will not even grace your nonsense with a detailed response, except to say that there are loads of African elements in the various cultures of the English speaking Caribbean.
But then you claim that there aren't any African elements in Cuban cooking.
I guess you must be the Cuban troll that some one is referring to here.
You did not only lost all the culture, language and religion of your ancestors, you ignore their history. Blacks came NAKED tied in rows in the ship's hold. ".
And people arrived in new places and create their own cultures. In fact blacks in Cuba are no more "African" than are blacks in other parts of the Caribbean. Haitians are the most African of all, and the reason for that is obvious.
Patterns of slavery in Cuba pretty much mirrored that of the French and the English speaking Caribbean and the orisha religion of Trinidad is very similar to Cuba's Santeria. Other Caribbean countries also have their Africanisms. Why don't you watch how Caribbean people dance or the rhythms of the music and come back and tell me that this is "English".
Please understand this. In a society where 90% of the population was African and a scant 5% were white it would have been very difficult for the Europeans to eradicate all elements of African culture.
You know what amazes me of Latin Americans are that people aren't black, who know little about blacks, and who have scant respect for blacks hold themselves as experts about blacks.
I have been submerged on several occasions among Ghanaians and Nigerians who have pointed out to me the MANY things that I do that are African, even things that they know that I am not aware of.
Do you know that the Creole English is DIRECTLY connected to the Nigerian Pidgin English and the Sierra Leonean Krio?
So spare me your nonsense that people from the Anglophone Caribbean are a bunch of chocolate Englishmen. The English will be surprised to discover how a people as extroverted as Caribbean people can ever be described as English.
I even suspect that you might think that this is what some of us still are. We are telling you about OURSELVES. You are telling us who we are. Obviously you think that we are dumb animals who have no understanding of who we are.
Now let me educate you here. Religious people from Cuba, Trinidad, Brazil, and Nigeria often meet to discuss and practice aspects of the Yoruba religion, which is known by different names but maintaining similar structures. I suggest that you respect what caribdoll says about Trinidad. She knows it. You DO NOT!
Its always nice to see what people that saw with their own eyes what slavery was like in the Spanish Caribbean say themselves. there.
You incessantly push this nonsense in your vain effort to push Iberian slave owners as being more benign.
Get it through your head.
1. Santo Domingo was not of interest to the Spanish colonials who refocused their energies on their Mexican and South American colonies. In that era Cuba was similar. The plantation system almost died off so the pattern of slavery was different.
2. In the late 18th C as Cuba became a major sugar producer the SAME patterns of slavery emerged in Cuba as existed in Jamaica, Haiti, Barbados, etc. Slavery in Brazil was the SAME as in the British, French and the Dutch Caribbean. Had Santo Domingo a prosperous plantation based system patterns of slavery would have been no different. All one needs to do is to compare the patterns of slavery in Cuba in the early 18th C with the early 19th, when the sugar industry became more dominant.
So stop peddling your propaganda of the benign Iberian slavery. It was as brutal and as racist as any where else when maximizing productivity from enslaved peoples became the focus.
By the way the Dominican Republic has had the greatest difficulty in acknowledging the African contributions, and it is only recent it has begun to openly do this in reaction to criticisms to others concerning its attitude towards skin color.
Blacks were machinery, whatever you want to call them. A black was worth 10 times more than a European peasant. If European peasants could be bought and sold, like in the past, they would be worth almost nothing.
Only considered such by mentally ill Europeans in those slavery-related nations that were too lazy to do the work themselves. Africans had long been cultivating their own lands. They as well as many Amerindians were experienced in areas that those Europeans were not.
Anyway, more talk about the cuisine of the region...
Yes, Guyanese are culturally Caribbean. It is like a sister country to Trinidad in certain ways. There is significant overlap when it comes to food. We'll always argue whose roti & curry are best...lol.
I've had less Spanish Caribbean food only b/c i'm vegetarian. The English and French (probably excluding Haiti) seem to have more options in that area. Could be wrong though...
Not that things overlap but Guyanese borrows extensively from Trinidad culturally. What Guyana has similar to Trinidad is the Asian Indian population. Some Guyanese cuisine is different due to different racial groups like Guyana has native indigenous tribes who preserves food using cassava or yucca. This dish is Guyana national dish, and is not Caribbean at all. Native to the Amazon basin. But yes much if Guyana cuisine is influenced either by afro Caribbean, Indo carribbean populace the lives in Guyana. In terms of curry and roti? Trinidad is best. Also Guyana is meat eaters paradise especially since it is not an island, Trinidad has strong attachments to its Indian heritage amongst it's populace, vegetarian condiments are always available. I could be wrong.
I grew up on both hispanic carribbean and Anglo Caribbean food. I have yet to taste French Caribbean food.
Not that things overlap but Guyanese borrows extensively from Trinidad culturally. What Guyana has similar to Trinidad is the Asian Indian population. Some Guyanese cuisine is different due to different racial groups like Guyana has native indigenous tribes who preserves food using cassava or yucca. This dish is Guyana national dish, and is not Caribbean at all. Native to the Amazon basin. But yes much if Guyana cuisine is influenced either by afro Caribbean, Indo carribbean populace the lives in Guyana. In terms of curry and roti? Trinidad is best. Also Guyana is meat eaters paradise especially since it is not an island, Trinidad has strong attachments to its Indian heritage amongst it's populace, vegetarian condiments are always available. I could be wrong.
I grew up on both hispanic carribbean and Anglo Caribbean food. I have yet to taste French Caribbean food.
Yes, that's true...there is overlap between T&T and Guyana but the latter has far more Amerindian influenced cuisine. Land of 6 peoples indeed.
I feel like vegetarian/meat availability is around the same in both places. The Indian ties are just as strong in both places, perhaps moreso in Guyana where the population is a greater percentage of the nation.
I love Anglo Caribbean cuisine for its diversity and tastiness. French Caribbean is close, as there has been overlap. Quite a few places are both Anglo and French. The Spanish Caribbean is decent though less varied. It is more mild which is nice sometimes.
It is hard for me to say. I love jerk chicken and Jamaican beef patties. I've tried a Cuban sandwich with tostones(albeit my Cuban sandwiches have chicken in them and not pork. The Cuban restaurant I've frequented offers Cuban chicken sandwiches). I love the curries that are found in Anglo-Caribbean food. Allspice goes well with chicken. I have not tried Haitian food, as far as I know. One reason I can't vote on just one.
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