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Editor's Articles |
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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:
In 5 years time, I don't want to be singing the same song. (C) D. Grant August 2002 |
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