Caribbean cooking in the time of COVID-19 · Global Voices
Channa (ckickpeas), beans, and “roti” (a Trinidadian hybrid of a soft naan bread). Photo by <PERSON>, used with permission.
Check out Global Voices’ special coverage of the global impact of COVID-19.
Each Caribbean territory has its own individual customs, quirks, and cultural and social traditions. Naturally, this extends to cuisine.
Jamaica, for instance, is known for its ackee and saltfish or jerk-style meats; Barbados, its flying fish and cou-cou; Trinidad and Tobago, its pelau, shark and bake or doubles — but it's likely that Carribeans enjoy all types of food from every region. This is especially true for members of the diaspora, for whom Caribbean cooking brings a sumptuous whiff of home.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, one Trinidadian diaspora blogger decided to use the mandated isolation time to get creative in the kitchen. “Not wanting to go out unnecessarily,” Isle Chile writes, “we are trying to utilize the ingredients we have at home to make our meals.”
The result is a batch of easy-to-make, flavourful recipes, often accompanied by amusing anecdotes or Caribbean-centric musings, that may very well make time spent in isolation more pleasant. Here are a few highlights…
A favourite rice dish
A version of “pelau”, a beloved rice dish in Trinidad and Tobago. Photo courtesy Isle Chile, used with permission.
This one-pot meal, involving browned rice, peas and your choice of meat, is hugely popular. <PERSON> explains:
I can’t think of a specific time when Trinis eat pelau. 941
It works any time of year, at any festival or celebration […] It can be stored for the week in the fridge and the staler the pelau, the nicer it tastes, in my opinion.
As far as the method goes, she says, “pelau is all about cooking down the food together.” She said that a couple of tablespoons of coconut milk to ramp up the flavour, which may contribute to the fact that in her version, the rice is not as brown as in a typical pelau dish. However brown the pelau, however, the secret is to find “that sweet spot in the cooking time where [the] dish is not overly dry and not soggy”.
Ready-to-eat roti
A wrapped “roti”, a Trinidadian dish in which a soft type of naan bread is filled with an array of curried ingredients. Photo by <PERSON>, used with permission.
While the blogger is comfortable making curry, making the dhalpouri (roti skins made from flour and split peas) in which to wrap them is not her forté. Thankfully, these are often pre-packaged, and she happened to find some in her freezer, so a short while later, there was both chicken and beef roti to be enjoyed. She writes:
In Trinidad, my family, like many, would accompany a roti with a red soft drink (pop), sweet drink or as we would call it (cutting off the last letter of the first word) a sofdrink or a sweedrink. Of course, I didn’t have one […] so I got creative and made a cranberry spritzer instead…Look, it red oui [yes], and I was happy to pretend.
Roti is so beloved in Trinidad and Tobago that there's a saying, “You cannot please everyone. You are not roti.” In this vein, Isle Chile mused, “There is nothing more tasty, more special and no better way to say ‘I love you’, in my opinion than bringing me roti…”
‘Sunday lunch’
Stewed chicken, pigeon peas and macaroni pie, all typical “Sunday lunch” fare. Photo by Isle Chile, used with permission.
For most West Indians, the concept of “Sunday lunch” is a big deal. Not only does it usually come with some measure of pomp and circumstance, bringing out the “good” flatware and cutlery, but it's also an opportunity for families and friends to come together. 851