The Caribbean is beautiful. It might be a bit repetitive to say it is beautiful, but it truly is. Its beauty comes from more than just the beaches. It comes from the people, the culture and more importantly the food. In order to talk about Caribbean food, we thought it would be best to share a brief history of Caribbean food with you.
What is Caribbean food?
Caribbean food is basically a mix of all the cuisines that exist in the world. That is a very vague way to describe it.
To be more specific, Caribbean food is the result of European, African, Native, Indian and more cuisines being merged together. Caribbean food is literally a melting pot.
How was Caribbean food created?
Before colonization, the Natives inhabited the islands. They had their own way of life, their own cooking styles and their own ingredients. When Africans were brought over, their foods were brought over and grown on the islands. Not only were new foods introduced, but new cooking styles were introduced. Many new dishes were born, for instance jerk chicken was created by Africans.
Because they were taken from the lands and from the ingredients they were used to, they had to get used to new spices and ingredients. They still tried to make things as closed to the motherland as possible but things were not the same. Instead of creating things they once loved, they created new dishes that we now love today.
In addition to a huge African influence, Europeans also helped shape our cuisine. Many ingredients were introduced to us by the colonizers. Because of their plan to colonize the islands and to tame them, they viewed their way of life and their cuisines as barbaric. Today many dishes we know and love have been influenced by European culture.
Caribbean food today has evolved, it is delicious and it is far from barbaric. There are so many dishes to discover and we hope we can help you discover them. Check out some of our Caribbean recipes here.