The West Indian kitchen today, five hundred years after Columbus, is a
wonderful blend of flavors and cooking styles. The islands are blessed
with some of the richest soils in the world, and the different peoples
who have settled there have developed a vibrant hybrid cuisine. Scottish
rebels, enslaved Africans, indentured Portuguese and Chinese, and
finally the East Indians-all of these brought with them their
traditional foods and cooking techniques. This book takes as its
framework the stratified history of the islands from the early times of
European exploration to the present day. The author draws extensively on
original sources, such as diaries, which describe voyages from the China
Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Atlantic, and the implantation of new
lives in the islands. She has collected recipes from the differing
cuisines of all the peoples who live on the islands, and she portrays
the way of life that has developed through the generations. She writes:
"The Caribbean is an esthetic as full of emotion as a work of art. The
air you breathe, the light that fills you, the myriad voices of nature
and the past, the soil that provides for you-all these, wrapped
together, are expressed in the kitchen."
