Why Caribbean?
October 4th, 2007 by Trinifood
Caribbean food has not taken off in the UK mainly because of bad service and the inability of too many Caribbean food outlets to come up to the standard of many other restaurants.
It’s not my opinion, it’s just what the readers of the Guardian Food Blog have been saying lately.
A few weeks ago, Wade Lyn, a Jamaican-born caterer wrote about his dismay that Caribbean food hadn’t taken off in the way that other world cuisines had done.
“It’s been 45 years since Jamaican independence and the UK Caribbean community is stronger than ever, so why is Caribbean cuisine still the poor relation in this country? We’ve adopted Thai, Indian, Mexican, Italian, Chinese and Japanese cooking (to name but a few other countries’ cuisine) and taken them to our hearts (and more importantly our stomachs).”
He’s got a point but he makes a huge mistake from the outset - why is it only Jamaican independence that’s mentioned? And what does Jamaica being independent have to do with the way that British people adopt Caribbean food? Would it not have been more sensible for him to have said, it’s been almost 60 years since the SS Windrush brought the first wave of West Indian immigrants to these shores?
Lyn also wonders whether the problem might be down to poor PR for our food, “Is it the lack of restaurants? Is the Caribbean community not selling itself enough? Perhaps it’s a bit of both. I have considered that some of our dishes can be confusing. Rice and peas doesn’t contain garden peas for example but it does contain a variety of beans (peas is a collective term for beans in Jamaica). Curry goat in the UK rarely contains goat meat but often contains mutton or lamb.”
To try and get Caribbean food on the foodie agenda, Lyn’s decided to embark on a campaign to make Caribbean food more visible. The aim of his campaign is to get “everyone in the country to have at least tried one item of Caribbean food by this time next year. Once they’ve experienced the delicious food of the Caribbean we know they’ll be converted and start supporting this under-valued ethnic food.”
I applaud his ambition but is that really the way to get Caribbean food on the agenda? I’m not sure that having everyone eat either jerk chicken, roti or coo-coo and callaloo can help Brits to take Caribbean food to their hearts.
For a start, we need high quality restaurants and well-written books about our cuisine, but from what people have said in response to Lyn’s article, it seems that the issues are a lot closer to home than that.
Here’s a cross section of Guardian readers’ responses.
“I live in a part of London with a significant Caribbean population and quite a few small Caribbean restaurants/takeaways. The service is always hit-and-miss. If I want a quick pattie to eat at the bus-stop, it takes the lady at the counter ages to serve it, even if there is no-one else to be served. Maybe they are not very keen on non-Caribbean customers? Even though I am of Asian origin, I love Caribbean cuisine. Sadly, the poor service I have experienced has led me to rely heavily on the only Jamaican family I know to get a regular jerk/plantain/rice n peas fix.” - Old Cynic.
“It’s odd because Caribbean cookery is excellent but you really need to know someone from there to get the real thing. I think the lack of a head chef type figure may also be to blame. Ken Hom almost singlehandedly introduced us to Far Eastern cookery while the likes of Madhur Jaffery et al continue to refine our curried cuisine. Where are all the Caribbean cooks?” - Dougalmc
“I’ve never had Caribbean food myself, mainly becuase the places I’ve seen selling it always look so unappealing, I used to walk past a place in Clapham Junction that looked filthy and the smell coming from in was indescribably awful (and I was living above a cafe at the time). Also, is it veggie friendly? My impression of it (which could be completely inaccurate) it that it isn’t.” - susi2shoes
“I think that Caribbean and indeed African food hasn’t taken off in the UK due to a lack of knowledge about proper Caribbean and African culture. In schools kids learn about the cultural practices of many ethnic groups but not not that much about African and Caribbean people. What they do learn is very narrow and doesn’t make us appear as culturally rich as other ethnic groups. It is the mysticism of other cultures that have lead to their cuisines becoming popular. It irks me when people talk of the exotic, rich tastes of Indian, Chinese or Thai food but the same is applicable to African and Caribbean food. It is often down to ignorance why people think we have no food to be proud of.
The media doesn’t help either with a very one sided picture of African/Caribbean culture, food and life. Also the representatives of Afro-Caribbean cuisine in the media are laughable - Rustie Lee and Ainsley Harriot both of which (excuse the pun) leave a bad taste in the mouth. Until we have a Ken Hom type figure or popular chefs like Jaime or Gordon use our ingredients and popularise our cuisine, it will never be up there with Thai, Chinese or Indian food.” - Zeryus
That’s the view from the UK and I’m interested in finding out how Caribbean food is regarded through the diaspora. What’s happening in New York, Toronto and Miami? If you have an opinion, do let me know and let’s keep the debate going about why our food hasn’t taken off yet.
Posted in Food Matters |
October 4th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
[…] Why isn't Caribbean food more popular in the UK, wonders Can Cook, Must Cook. She responds to online commentary. Share This […]
October 5th, 2007 at 10:25 am
[…] Why isn't Caribbean food more popular in the UK, wonders Can Cook, Must Cook. She responds to online commentary. […]
October 9th, 2007 at 1:09 am
“because of bad service and the inability of too many Caribbean food outlets to come up to the standard of many other restaurants”
Very sad, but very true. Here in Canada our experience is the same. There never seem to be any accountability by the owners. It’s as if they don’t care or are living in a cave… don’t go out to eat and see what the other restaurants are providing?
Or, maybe we’ve come to expect such crappy service and experience that we still patronize such establishments and they remain in business.
It’s time we demanded much more!
October 15th, 2007 at 5:58 pm
someone made the comment of the more popular chefs introducing caribbean cuisine to their routines and shows. Can we get UKTV food to show some of Wendy Rahamut’s programs…worth a try to ask! I don’t think its a matter of people not aware of the types of food…it is more of a case on where can I get a decent caribbean restaurant.
October 16th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Why not search out some of the best Caribbean chefs and do a programme?? That’s the best way I think.
November 18th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I live in the Virgins now, but I lived in London for many years. Caribbean restaurants are generally caffs run by people who either use foul language or are happy for their customers, many of whom are only their for the beer, to use it. They delight in showing that they are different - either a community or race thing and delight in showing the non-Caribbean customer that they don’t really belong. When you finally get served, the food is unlikely to be beautifully presented (but then in the Caribbean, there is no tradition outside of resorts) of presenting food nicely as a matter-of-course. The food is also likely to be swimming in oil which isn’t popular anymore, or old and stale - pates and jonny cakes cooked hours ago and left in some warmer. The quality of the food actually reflects ordinary home cooking but that is unacceptable to paying customers who expect restaurant food, just as an example, goat water having chunks of mutton with massive amounts of fat clinging to it (still at least no skin and hair!)
The only way to bring Caribbean food in the UK to a recognised cuisine that becomes a dining-out choice is to take the chefs and restaurant managers from the finest dining establishments in the Caribbean that entertain both locals and tourists and spend lavish amounts of money in setting up similar eateries in the UK. The watch it take off, the delicious food and ambiance I pay for in Biras Creek (which as a local executive chef) or in many places in Nevis, Trinidad and St. Lucia will become London’s newest and most fashionable evening-out treat.
February 5th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
It is sad to see what is being said about our people and their food. I must say that the majority of the Caribbean has a problem with customer service and this can account for the poor service experienced. I myself, for the longest while, have been lobbying for better service as well as for the government to do something about it in my country, but to no avail. Concerning the food, I do not know what types of people cook Caribbean food out there; however our foods (at least on Trinidad) have change a lot from being oily. Therefore I think maybe the cooks are from another Caribbean country or from the old days. We have become a health conscious people as well. It is also disheartening to hear that we sell our foods out of seedy, run down, filthy areas that turn people off. I think that the next time that I am in your country, I will certainly look for a caribbean food restaurant to see if this is true.
March 13th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Honestly, I think our food hasn’t ‘taken off’ because we have a lot of people misrepresenting our cuisine. I’ve bought several so-called caribbean cookbooks and seen ‘caribbean’ recipes in magazines, etc and they tend to be very unauthentic. The vast majority of them are basically European dishes with a hint of Caribbean flavour,for example ‘caribbean chocolate cake’…so people look at stuff like that and think Caribbean cuisine is nothing special. I think we need more REAL Caribbean cookbooks out there. The only good Caribbean cookbooks I’ve ever seen are basically only available in the Caribbean region, such as, ‘Naparima Girl’s Highschool Cookbook’, ‘Grenada Spiceisle Homemaker’s Cookbook’, ‘What’s Cooking Guyana’, and ‘Caribbean East Indian Recipes’.
March 17th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Maybe I should write one?
March 26th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
Yes, I think you’d be a good cookbook author
April 6th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Thanks mucho Kimberley!
July 14th, 2008 at 9:55 am
The services can be improved if they want to make it popular, they must do it.
No doubt the author could be a good cook as well.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:53 am
subwoofers earthquake audio car car audio 18 subwoofers
June 7th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Cool post! Enjoyed reading the previous blog as well! Keep up the good work. Feel free to comment back. http://ncfinedining.wordpress.com/