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Youth
of Caribbean Origin - and food culture
There
is a rumour going around that some Caribbean youth
actually prefer fish and chips to Caribbean food.
Although this is not a widespread belief, it does ring
true for some, and these are reasons why.
Not
enough exposure is given to Caribbean food and drink.
Unless youths have a grandparent, parent or other people
around who regularly cook it, or extol its virtues,
then of course fish and chips or the Big Mac
will be more familiar to them.
Youths simply do not have it very often, because their
parents very rarely cook it at home.
Unfortunately many 2nd and third generation West Indians,
who were either born here or largely bought up here really
do not take the time or effort to live this very important
part of their culture.
Also with many grandparents migrating back to the Caribbean,
so much of our culture is going back with them.
Sunday lunches where 3 generations get together as
now not as common as it used to be. Caribbean Food Emporium tried
to find a three- generational family who regularly come together
for a typical Caribbean Sunday lunch, for a BBC documentary
about food.
We are still looking.
Time
is a factor. The parents who themselves might
have experienced some Caribbean cooking at home when they
were younger, now do less of it since it takes longer to cook.
Apart from speed being a factor
convenience is also an issue.
There are certainly not as many Caribbean food Take
Aways as there are Fish and Chips shop.
So for many youths, there is no choice about what you
can obtain quickly.
If your nearest available shop is 5 miles away, unless
you are a die-hard cultural purist where nothing else but
some rice and peas and oxtail will cure your craving you are unlikely to travel to this shop on the bus.
If your family has a car you are might make it more
often. Some
Take Aways have started doing home deliveries,
but once again, this would be within a particular radius.
Caribbean
Food has not yet made an impact in the amount
packaged convenienced foods available in the supermarkets.
Patties are available in a few of Tescos supermarkets.
Marks and Spencers have recently introduced a Caribbean
option in the Café foods range.
Sainsbury's were also doing a version of Hard Dough
Bread.
There
is a cost issue.
Some ingredients are more expensive to buy.
Sweet potato for instance is anything from 75p per
pound, whereas white potatoes are from 20p per pound.
A complete take away Caribbean meal for one would be
more expensive costing say £5 compared to £3 for a KFC or
fish and chips.
However some elements are cheaper, such as a patties,
or dumpling and saltfish.
Price comparisons are better if cooking at home though,
since rice is the same price however it is cooked, (the English
way, or using Caribbean seasonings)
same with chicken and so on.
Another
factor is that the media is not giving enough exposure to
Caribbean Food.
The black media in particular do not think it important
enough to have a food feature in every publication, every
week. I weekly comb through the Voice and New Nation
and Caribbean Times
for information on Caribbean Food and regularly find
nothing.
Black web sites will have general news, music, business,
sport and dating/chat sections but no food section.
Do Caribbeans not eat?
It seems that it has been assumed that readers are
not that interested in food. I
think this is a shame.
They could be continually educating about our food
and also helping
to build up the Caribbean Food Industry.
Youths
of all cultures all over the world enjoy the main fast foods,
such as MacDonalds, Pizza, KFC. This does not
mean however, that their own cultural food is not important
to them.
However
when youth go to Caribbean weddings, most are very happy to
have the rice and peas and curry coat, jerk chicken and fried
fish. Many
fantasize about having this more often.
If the family unit makes a fuss about a good Sunday
lunch, then Rice
and peas and chicken it is, with possibly macaroni cheese,
plantain, coleslaw, roast potatoes and more.
Yam and green banana admittedly do not quite grab the
tastebuds in the same way as chips might.
But even yam and green banana can be made exciting,
it depends on how it is cooked.
There
is some progress. Even school dinner planners
are adding Caribbean style dishes to menus for school children
in areas of a sizeable West Indian population.
Jerk chicken and rice and peas have been observed on
the menu.
Patties are available in some places, such as pubs
and clubs.
Parents
have a duty to teach their children about Caribbean Food -
whether they are from mixed or pure parentage.
There is a vast range of dishes,
so there are bound to be some that are liked.
Youth of all backgrounds enjoy plantains, fried chicken,
dumplings, patties, saltfish, rice and curry goat.
So
in conclusion these are some pointers to
what could be done about this issue:
- Parents
should educate youths at home about Caribbean Food
- Parents
should cook Caribbean food at least 2-3 times weekly,
or get a Take Away,
or patronize Caribbean Restaurants.
- Schools
should inform about Caribbean Food as well as other foods.
- The
black media should have a weekly focus section on Caribbean
food, restaurants
and Take-Aways.
- Caribbean
Food Businesses should raise their profile, by regular press
releases, and advertising.
There can never be too much positive publicity.
- Caribbean
Food Businesses should break into the mainstream market,
with packaging. We want to see a section for
Caribbean Food in the supermarkets, just as we can see large
sections for Indian food, Chinese Food, and
Italian Food.
- We
need to see more Caribbean Food Establishments opening up
- with great decor, great service, as well as
delicious food to make it accessible for far more people.
In
5 years time, I don't want to be singing the same song.
(C)
D. Grant August 2002
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