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Barbados and her Cuisine

BACKGROUND

he Caribbean consists of an archapelago of islands stretching from Florida to Venezuela. Barbados is the most easterly of these islands, some of which were discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492. The Caribbean consists of an amalgam of many different races, the most prominent being those of Caribbean Indian, African, European and Asian. This race mix has provided the Caribbean with an eclectic culinary heritage. Such products as cassava, maise, breadfruit, guava, rice (which became a staple of Caribbean kitchens), an abundance of fish (Flying Fish in Barbados) was available from the surrounding ocean and prominently appeared in the local diet.

Early Settlers

he early European settlers added to the native products of the Caribbean by introducing various fruit trees such as figs, lemons, limes, oranges, bananas, pineapples, coconuts, yams, potatoes, and sugar cane which became the raison d'etre for most of the Caribbean islands. Sugar was the mainstay of the Caribbean economy and also produced such by-products as rum, and molasses.

Influences on Caribbean Cuisine

aribbean cusine has been influenced by many European cultures but its greatest influence comes from the British and French. Each Caribbean island shares some dishes in common, and each has developed dishes which are unique to their particular island. This page represents the island of Barbados and some of its unique dishes.

Barbadians (Bajans) Early History

arbados, and its native Barbadians are commonly known as Bajans. The first Bajans were made up of cannibals, convicts, pirates, planters and slaves. This eclectic group shaped the destiny of the tiny coral island. Though Christopher Columbus missed Barbados on all four of his trips to the West Indies, Caribbean Indians, Africans, and Europeans left their mark on the 166 square-mile spot of ground.

The story of Barbados began in about 400 BC when the Arawaks, the first Indians to establish villages in Barbados came from the area known as Venezuela. They travelled across the sea in canoes up to 90 feet long, which transported women, children, animals, water, plants, idols, navigational devices and weapons. The Arawaks farmed and fished; they also brought with them a calendar system and a unique tradition of pottery-making. The Arawak population declined in 1200 AD, probably because they were wiped out by the Caribs, a somewhat less sophisticated tribe of hunters and fishermen who dominated Barbados for three hundred years.

When the British arrived in Barbados in 1627 all of the Indians had disappeared. However, traces of Carib and Arawak culture are still evident in modern Barbados. Whether one is handling a piece of prehistoric pottery, sipping Planter's punch, or ladling out a Pepperpot stew, you'll be taking a momentary trip back in time. Sounds of an ancient Indian Language are in such familiar Barbadian words as:

huracan hurricane
maiz maize or corn
canaua canoe
tobaco tobacco
hamaca hammock
sabana savannah
guayaba guava

The Origin of the Name Barbados

arbados' name is Portuguese. At some point during the years of Caribbean exploriation, the Portuguese began referring to the island as Los Barbados, meaning the bearded ones, possibly a reference to bearded fig trees, a few of which can still be found on the island.

The first English explorers landed in Barbados in 1625 but the first English settlement did not begin until 1627, when on February 17, eighty English settlers and ten black slaves (captured from trading vessels en route) disembarked on the west coast of the island.

Black male slaves were introduced by the Dutch and Portuguese traders during Barbados' earliest years and, when they did not fare well, importation of slaves became a yearly event. The original English settlers were made up of the younger sons of well placed Englishmen who would receive none of the inheritance which fell to the oldest son. Subsequent migrations were made by political outcasts and later by lower class laborers from England, Ireland, Scotland and Holland who were without money to buy land.

Precursors to Current Foods

he history of Barbados, as we know it, took a pivotal turn in the 1640's when the British decided to manufacture sugar, making Barbados the first British possession to cultivate sugar on a large scale. Food rations for the salves who, for the most part, worked as field workers on the sugar plantations, consisted of yams, potatoes, corn (maiz), fish, salt and molasses. These are the precursors to some of the foods which now appear in modern Barbadian cuisine.

ice is a major staple of the Barbadian diet so much so that many Barbadians (Bajans) feel that a meal without rice is not a complete meal, as witnessed in this poem rendered in the Bajan dialect:

We language limit?
Who language en limit?
Evah language
Like a big pot o' Bajan soup:
Piece o' yam, piece o' potato,
T'ree dumplin; two eddoe
One beet, two carrot,
Piece o' pig-tail, piece o' beef
Pinch o' salt, dus o' pepper
An' don' furget okra
To add to de flavour,
Boil up, cook up, eat up
An' yuh still wan' rice...  

The Advent of Tourism and Its Influence on Barbadian Cuisine

fter the long reign of sugar as the primary economic source in Barbados, the late 1950s and 1960s saw the emergence of tourism as a major economic activity in the region. The Barbados Hotel Aid Act of 1956 promised extensive fiscal concessions for the construction of tourist accommodation, and a Barbados Tourist Development Board was established in 1958. These efforts were designed to tap an increasingly affluent North Anerican and European Market. The number of tourist arrivals in Barbados in 1965 was almost twice that of 1960.

The tourist trade has greatly influenced cooking in hotels and travellers who stay in most of them may think that there is no real Caribbean cooking today. However, Barbadian cooking is still done in typical island homes and has been handed down, from generation to generation, through the years. Too, several hotels, the Barbados Hilton for example, have decided to showcase a menu of Barbadian fare at least once a week, and at the famous New Years Eve Fest there is an extensive show case of Caribbean fare in which foods from Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago are featured prominently.

Source: http://www.fiu.edu/~dottinc/cindy1.htm

November 29, 1999

Please send comments or suggestions to the author:

Cynthia E. Dottin