Long before Christopher Columbus’ “discovery” of the New World in 1492, there were two Indigenous tribes who occupied the islands of the Caribbean; the Taino Tribe and the Kalinago Tribe. The Tainos inhabited the islands of the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola and Puerto Rico) while the Kalinagos lived on the islands of the Lesser Antilles. According to food historians, the Kalinagos began spicing their foods with peppers, much like what many Caribbean people do today.
In the book “Indentured Labor, Caribbean Sugar“, Walton Look Lai mentioned that people from around the world, including parts of China, Indonesia, Africa, and the middle East, came to the Caribbean as indentured workers. In 1845, the first shipload of Indians came to work in Trinidad. During the period of 1850 to 1866, Chinese immigrants embarked on a journey to the Caribbean post-Emancipation. These indentured immigrants were given three to five-year contracts to work on West Indian plantations, were paid wages but repatriation back to home China was not facilitated and so, many remained in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean as a ‘Melting Pot’
The Caribbean is often described as a melting pot based on its diversity of people from all sorts of racial groups and ethnic backgrounds (Africans, Indians, Chinese, Europeans). Each group of individuals brought with them their own unique culture, norms, values and beliefs. With time and a series of historical events (slavery and indentureship), there has been an increased level of interaction which saw the birth of integration between different groups of people.
Traditional island cuisine resulted from this mixture of cultural influences. The islands have changed hands (rule) between various European powers; mainly the British, French, and Spanish monarchs. All of these factors, as well as their respective culinary traditions, have played a key role in forming the multifaceted cuisines of the Caribbean.
The Caribbean Melting Pot 