One of the beauties of the Caribbean is the flavourful cuisines that are indigenous to the land. Take Barbados for example. The Land of the Flying Fish. This is abundant in the warm Caribbean waters that surround the island.
Coming from a varied Historical background, this Little England in the West Indies boasts of many cultures, including the Spanish. The old Spanish saying "The belly rules the mind" is true! The need for satisfying ones palate has developed into an art of Cooking and a science of Food Preparation. People all over the world must eat, so why not enjoy one of life's pleasures?
This little Limestone country has long been into Sugar Cane Plantations and of course one of the bye products of Sugar is Molasses, an important ingredient in the production of Rum. Their Distilleries have produced some of the finest rums in the world. Full of body and rich in taste, Bajan Rum is indeed in a class by itself.
Their National Dish is the Cou-Cou and Flying Fish. The recipe consists of an exotic and refined blend of local cornmealand ochroes spiced with tomatoes, salt, pimento peppers and a home made hot pepper sauce. The fish is usually stewed in local vegetables and herbs to bring out that unique flavour.
This is a small Tropical island and full of aqua culture resources so that the culinary skills in preparing the Flying Fish is well inculcated into traditions.
It is therefore by no means difficult to realise that the choices in dishes have to revolve around satisfying that blend. And this led to the Macoroni Pie and Flying Fish. Made from macaroni, Cheddar cheeze and milk, and seasoned with local herbs, this can give any international gourmet competetion.
Then there is a native Colubrina arborescence tree which provides a local beverage called Mauby. The bark is removed and dried. It is boiled with local aniseed and the flavour is drawn out to produce a refreshing drink. Accented with local Nutmeg and Essences, this is sweetened and chilled. It is now carbonated and exported so the outside world can enjoy.
Barbados boasts of its Crop Over festival at the end of the planting season of the sugar cane. It is becoming a great Tourist Attraction as Trinidad's Carnival, and provides an opportunity to exhibit both culinary and creative skills of the people. This is an annual event and a major festive Holiday. The people display artwork in various forms, singing, dancing, beating drums, and of course cooking.
Being a Tropical island, there is a lot of coconuts. This is a great beverage when Green. When ripe on the tree or dried, it is becomes a key ingredient in a lot of recipes. Some of these are the Coconut Bake, Coconut Cake, Coconut Tart and the Sweet Bread. Then there's the Corn and Cassava Dumplings, Corn soup, Oil-Down and Tum-Tum. For more on this, see TriniCook for these recipes. Just delightful. The rum is even used to make Rum Cake, an extraordinary authentic delight.
You can't leave Barbados without sampling the Sea-Egg. The sea-egg is commonly known as the Sea-Urchin. This is such a local delicacy that it is becoming scarce so that harvesting of these eggs is now controlled by local government officials. However, these exotic eggs are available when they are in season.
Come and Join us as we take a Journey into the Delightful Cuisines of that Tropical Paradise called the Caribbean Islands, where even the Memory of the aroma can make you Salivate.
