Caribbean Food I Love and Miss

This is a photo of the Caribbean. And if it isn’t that obvious, there are lots of islands. Not just the well-known ones such as Jamaica, Barbados, Dominican Republic, Cuba or Bahamas. I can bet there are some you have never heard of before. The only reason why I am putting this out there is because I have met people who don’t know they exist or think they are all one and the same.

So I am originally from St.Lucia, which is one of the smaller islands in the southern part of the Caribbean. I lived there till I moved to Canada in 2016. Normally, I go back on my summer and winter breaks, but we are in a pandemic and just because you can travel, doesn’t mean you should. So the last time I was there was back in January and I am really missing home right now.

Living with my mom means that I have that little piece of back home because she tries to cook some of the things I like, such as pork, fish cake, fig salad and fried plantain. And I will not sit here judging her because I cannot cook myself. But honestly, the things I love, doesn’t know how to do, or can’t do as well as my grandmother, and thats okay because it means that I can save it for the next time I am back there. Like

• dal puri and suhari, which is more of an indian caribbean dish. My moms side of the family is caribbean indians so I grew up having a lot of their foods.
• dumpling and cocoa tea
• barbeque meat [it does not taste the same in Canada]
• local juices, piton shandy, piton malk, lucozade, supligen,
• paime
• cassava bread
• creole bread
• fried bakes
• jams
• a nice ham cooked in beer
• fresh lobster

And since my landlord is Jamaican/my second family, it means I have gotten used to their food as well. Like:

• jerk pork
• rice and peas
• dumpling
• stew peas
• calalalooo
• fried dumpling
• fritters
• festival
• corn porridge
• hardo bread

I know that there are restaurants which sell Caribbean food, especially when you live somewhere as multicultural as Toronto, but it doesn’t feel the same you know. I remember seeing this place sell a roti, which honestly was a burrito. Rotis don’t have rice and salad.

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Note:

1. I probably messed up those names with my spelling, which is why I am going to add a few photos.
2. Since the island have a cultural relationship, we share a lot of the same foods, just different names. For example. St.Lucians say fish cake, Jamaicans say fritas. St.Lucians say fried bakes, Jamaicans say fried dumpling.
3. In St.Lucia, most times, I know where my meat comes from because its locally sourced. Either we know the person or we grew it ourselves or bought it and slaughtered it. Sorry vegans
4. These are not my photos. I got them on websites
5. These are not the only foods out there. These are just the ones that I love.

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Saint Lucian Food

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Jamaican Food

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Anyway that’s all. I know its a bit different but I enjoyed writing this.