Product Description

The islands of the Caribbean are home to a cuisine as diverse as it is delectable. Fertile soil and bountiful seas provide inter-island as well as regional specialties, and this guide will usher you to each island's table. You'll discover how to crack open conch, mix a rum-soaked mojito and celebrate Carnival, Caribbean style. If your pantry needs a calypso kick, or if you do, the Caribbean and its cuisine are the stepping stones to sun, sand and sustenance.

• the essential guide to the culture of food & drink in the Caribbean
• concocting cocktails across the islands
• a tropical twist on Spanish, Dutch, English and French cuisine
• rum, cigars & Hemingway haunts
• the definitve Caribbean dictionary for every food and drink occasion
• tantalising photography and recipes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #945972 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 228 pages

From the Publisher
Lonely Planet’s "World Food Caribbean" brings the staples of the Caribbean table to life with delectable pages full of fresh seafood and shellfish, peas and rice, sweet potatoes, flavorful herbs and spices, and sweet, flaky bread and pastries.

Customer Reviews

Cultural Stew = A Caribbean Marketbasket
11/4/2002

World Food Caribbean,

"For people who live to eat, drink & travel"

by Bruce Geodes

This compact guide features a colorful history of the region, even etiquette, and each food group is addressed under:

Staples & Specialties and includes Drinks,

Home Cooking & Traditions,

Food festivals

Caribbean region cultures

Shopping and Markets

Where to Eat and Drink

Caribbean Banquets

Caribbean Culinary Dictionary.

Although the Caribbean region, the West Indies, is one group of islands, their remoteness has caused each island to reflect the ways of whoever conquered them in the past. The major conquerors were the English, the Spanish, the Dutch and the French. Each island's blend also represented the ethnic background of imported laborers to work their back-breaking sugar fields. These workers came from India, Asia and Africa and each brought their eating habits and usually some seeds for the future. Additionally, the Amerindians, or original inhabitants, had simple fare which mixed in with the ways of conquering cultures and in-coming laborers. This three-way juncture created foods and ways available no other way. The book contains some recipes.

Fruits, often beautiful and exotic, grow abundantly on the islands, and the book goes into some detail about many of them. A rum factory is usually found on many islands, for it is an important byproduct of sugar, so is the manufacture of a local beer. The many fruits lend to signature Rum Punches. Fruit shows up frequently in main dish recipes, as well.

In a land of islands, it stands to reason fish and seafood figure highly in the Caribbean region diet. Herbs and spices grow abundantly too which causes the people to depend upon them for medicinal reasons and bush teas in addition to seasoning food. West Indies grown nutmeg, mace, ginger and garlic add to the flair of local cuisines. Chile peppers, coconut and island-grown spices dress up local foods, while basic beans, rice and tubers balance a rich diet.

Look up festivals and carnivals which are big in the islands, some named "Crop Over," celebrating the completion of the sugar harvest. Others are cook-offs and those associated with the Lenten season. A quick catch-up is the book's green inserts entitled, "Don't Miss," which line out sights as well as foods to try. Some random samplings:

Dutch:

Curacao, Aruba, Bonnaire and Sint Maarten - Dutch cheeses, iguana soup, Indonesian and Papiamento cuisines.

French:

Guadeloupe, Martinique and Haiti, French-influenced with wines from France, spicy Creole fish dishes, fresh baked goods. Hatian music is especially lilting.

English:

Jamaica, ackee & salt fish, jerk pork with recipe

Barbados, its coo-coo and flying fish

Trinidad, roti, hot curries, callalloo soup, cou-cou (cuscous),

Nassau, conch

Spanish:

Cuba, pizza, jamon (ham) chorizo sausage and onion

Puerto Rico, sofrito

The Food Directory is broken down into upscale, pubs and mid-range, fast food/cheap eateries, street food and bars. Catchy island music is to be savored on each island from Jamaica's Bob Marley to Trinidad's Mighty Sparrow.

The book's Fit and Healthy chapter discusses your health and what to look out for particularly if allergies, diabetic issues and diarrhea intervene.

Just reading World Food Caribbean's "Eat your Words," quick 30-page Culinary Dictionary will put the visitor way ahead of the Caribbean food game. This handy, small, informational book with outstanding photography is a must for your next West Indian trip.

Enjoy!

© Marty Martindale, 2002, Largo FL