Book Extracts - regarding Caribbean Food

With nostalgia, I set out through the Savanna in late afternoon to find a coconut vendor. The first one I met, a skinny old East Indian in faded blue denim, greeted me: "Eh-eh, wha' happenin', man?" I ordered a coconut: "Medium, please." Medium means that the nut has some soft jelly - it is not all coconut water.

A deft swipe of a cutlass (as West Indians call a machete) sent the top of the green nut flying. I turned the hull up and drained it: my favorite drink. When I handed the hull back to the vendor, he split it with one whack. Another chop removed a little green wedge of husk, used to scoop out the delicious jelly Two or three of these nuts are a meal in themselves and, according to Trinidadians, coconut water will cure anything that may be wrong with you.

***

I visited a villa just outside the city of Port of Spain, the home of Mr and Mrs Baptiste. Mr Baptiste was the editor of the Caribbean monthly magazine People. His wife used to be a teacher and also worked for the Caribbean Conference of Churches. She had prepared my favourite dishes: a superb callaloo soup, made from dasheen leaves and crabs and secret ingredients (perhaps a sprinkling of grated coconut?); stewed chicken with a subtle sauce fired by drops of the world's hottest pepper sauce, made in Trinidad. Home made coconut ice cream followed for dessert.

Source:
Isles of the Caribbean (1980) - Trinidad - Tor Eigeland

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