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Caribbean food and the cultural food heritage.

The Spanish, African and the Taino: a food heritage and a blend of cultures.

Culture in the Little Antilles is vigorous thanks to the colorful mixture of people living here.
Almost all Caribbean people are, in some sense, foreigners, and not only tourists, European communities or rich Americans that have settled here, but also natctors were born in the Caribbean but with roots in other continents. The present Caribbean people come from African slaves, Chinese or Indian workers, European colonists, or Near East traders. Also the Caribbean Indian tribes came from South America.

Many Caribbeans come from Africans that arrived as slaves, after surviving a wicked trip lasting several weeks, forced to leave back their former lives and families, and transported into a new and strange world.

After the abolition of slavery, their descendants decided to stay here, and many prospered, though that time still casts a dark shadow over the region; in fact, very often the present economic and social problems are said to be a consequence of the past. However, today Caribbeans think very little about their tragic history, and more than that, they have a strong feeling of national and regional identity that has helped them to forget past injustices. Most of them rather look towards the future.

Creole Mixture
Caribbean society is by definition, a mixture of different people and cultures. The word “Creole”, that first was used to difference Europeans from their American born descendants, now has a new meaning, and currently is the name given to the culture formed by the mixture of many influences. The word is applied to language, cooking, clothes and architecture.

The European Factor
From the very first Spanish expeditions, the European influence marked these islands. In the East Caribbean, countries with major influence are the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands, though the latter is of lesser extent. This can be confirmed watching cricket grounds in Barbados, the sophisticated French cuisine in Martinique, or the warehouse roofs in Curacao. However, excepting some few colonial bases in some islands, the European dominance days are far back, and now would be very hard to find, in the Caribbean lands, a small copy of the old metropolis.

The European influence has been substituted by that brought from Africa, by millions of slaves, their language customs and religions. The African culture survived the trauma imposed by slavery and colonial values, and its influence is now omnipresent, something evident in rural houses, agriculture techniques, food, music and dance. Though maybe it’s harder to find that African influence in modern cities, there’s no doubt that the African legacy is very much present in the little fishermen villages, or the farming communities of the mountains.

Asian Influences
To the European and African influences, you have to add that of the Asians. Hindu temples, the sound of the tassa drums, and the smell of the different curry dishes, elaborated according to the region’s uses, are proof of the influence of India’s culture. Likewise, the arrival in modern times, of immigrants from China, Madeira and Africa, with their own cultures, has added even more color to the Creole mixture, which is completed with the influence of people coming from Syria and Lebanon. Though the major influence in recent times has been American culture, especially among youngsters.

In the French islands they have a word to name this mixture: créolité. This is the main reason why Caribbeans are so different, and this makes these islands unique. It is also a proof of their capacity to integrate different people, giving birth to their own culture. It is a dynamic process, in continuous evolution, demonstrating the vitality of the region.

The cuisine of Puerto Rico has its roots in the cuisine of Spain and West Africa. The cuisine also differs from that of other Latin countries and the United States.

History

The cuisines of Spain, Mexico, Africa, Central America, South America, and the United States all have had an impact on how food is prepared in Puerto Rico. Some dishes also show traces of the island's original inhabitants, the Taíno Indians.

Taino influences

From the diet of the Taíno Arawak people come many tropical roots and tubers like yautía (taro) and especially Yuca (Yuca), from which thin cracker-like casabe bread is made. Ajíes (a small sweet pepper, it should not be confused with the hot pepper), recao/culantro (spiny leaf), achiote (annatto), peanuts, guavas, pineapples, jicacos (cocoplum), quenepas (mamincillo), lerenes (Guinea arrowroot), calabazas (tropical pumpkins), and guanabanas (soursops) are all Taíno foods. The Taínos also grew varieties of beans and some maíz (corn/maize), but maíz was not as dominant in their cooking as it was for the peoples living on the mainland of Mesoamerica. This is due to the frequent hurricanes that Puerto Rico experiences, which destroy crops of maíz, leaving more safeguarded plants like conucos (hills of yuca grown together).

Spanish influences

Spanish Cuisine
Spanish influence in Puerto Rican cuisine is strong. Wheat bread, rice, garbanzos, olives, Olive Oil, pimento peppers, onions, garlic, cilantro, oregano, basil, sugarcane, oranges, grapefruits, eggplants, ham, lard, chicken, beef, cheese, vinegar, and salted codfish all originate from Spain.


African influences

Coconuts, coffee (brought by the Arabs and Corsos to Yauco from Kafa, Ethiopia), okra, yams, sesame seeds, gandules (pigeon peas or Congo peas, in English) sweet bananas, plantains, and malanga all come to Puerto Rico from Africa. African cooks introduced a preference for deep frying food. The tradition of cooking complex stews and rice dishes in iron pots is also thought to be originally African.


United States influences

The last century of association with the United States has also impacted Puerto Rican cooking traditions and favorite foods. The most significant has to do with how people fry food. The early Spaniards brought olive oil for cooking and frying, but importing it from Spain made it very expensive, and cooks on the Island shifted over to lard which could be produced locally. In the last 50-60 years, corn oil produced in the United States has taken the place of lard for making cuchifritos and alcapurrias.

Salchichas (canned Vienna sausages) were introduced in about 1898;, today, they are scrambled with eggs and cooked in other dishes. Galletas de soda (soda crackers in tins) are an American product of the 19th and early 20th centuries that reproduce the crunchy texture of the earlier casabe bread and can be kept crunchy (in the tins) in high tropical humidity.

From the tropical American mainland also come parcha (passionfruit), cocoa, papaya, tomatoes, and avocados. Panapén (breadfruit) was first imported into the British Caribbean colonies from the South Pacific as cheap slave food in the late 18th century. After spreading throughout the Antilles, panapén has also become an indispensable part of the Puerto Rican repertoire, both in puddings and crunchy, deep-fried tostones.