When blacks cook

This isn't an article that excludes or alienates other races, but one that celebrates blacks through cuisine. 

We have a long legacy of creating scarcity meals that would satisfy a family's hunger with minimal resources. When you look at the surface, the black family had many mouths to feed back in the day. It's not like now, when careers have resulted in shrinking families, at the time, the thinking was different and family was a way of ensuring that you had a means of support as you aged. 

We were always told, "Your strength goes through your mouth", with the adults saying at the time, "I love to see children with a hearty appetite". If you were lacking a healthy appetite, we would get shark oil with B complex, or other fish oils. Cod liver oil, Geritol, and others. Who remembers Sonatogen Tonic Wine? 

Meal times were when families got together and shared, not only food but what their day was like and the experiences they encountered. If friends of your parents came over, you learned that they were no saints when they spoke about the escapes from being chastised when they were children. 

Back to the meals. 

Here are some pictures of the meals we ate: 





It's not uncommon to see foods topped off with pepper sauce that was homemade. Some were quite hot, and others sought to balance the flavours to complement the meals. Collectively they made the user break a sweat while eating and made the food more appetizing. 

People lived long with few ailments. Children were strong and able-bodied, fleet-footed and quick thinking. The meals were so memorable that the participants spoke of those meals for many years to come and the events that surrounded those meals. 

We may never see those elements again as we go forward, but they reflect the good days of the Caribbean. 


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