The Caribbean is closer than you think.
Island influences, particularly on the palate, are popping up everywhere. At last month's Fancy Food Show in New York, Caribbean-inspired products dominated the ethnic menus - along with Asian options. "Caribbean food, dubbed New World Cuisine, is heating up menus in South Florida and major markets across the country," reports the National Restaurant Association. "Following in the footsteps of Cajun and Southwestern cuisine, Caribbean food is slated to be the next hot sensation in ethnic restaurant fare."
Although many people think only of Jamaican jerk or black beans and rice when Caribbean cuisine is mentioned, the menus of the region are widely diverse. Like its American counterpart, Caribbean cooking has a melting-pot heritage; no one dish is unique to the region. Caribbean food has been influenced by four groups: Arawak and Carib Indians, the original inhabitants who used sweet potatoes and arrowroot and originated the barbecue; Europeans - the Spanish, Dutch, French, British and Danish - who relocated in the fifteenth century to sunnier shores; African slaves, who introduced okra and African cooking techniques; and voyagers from India and China, who brought curry, rice, vegetables and soy sauce.
Jerk pork, perhaps the most widely recognized Caribbean dish, illustrates the melding of these disparate groups' cooking styles. Jerk tradition goes back to the seventeenth century when the Maroons, fugitive African slaves, combined their skill for slow pit-roasting with the native Arawak Indians' talent for flavoring meals with allspice and hot chilies. The Maroons combined the Arawaks' blazing marinade with salt and used it to preserve the wild boars they hunted in the remote mountains of Jamaica. Techniques and spicing secrets were then handed down through generations. Today, some cooks use dry marinades, while others use wet mixtures. Either way, the meat is basted religiously while it cooks, and the best jerk is grilled over allspice wood.
Spices and flavors combined and used in unexpected ways distinguish Caribbean food. Nutmeg and allspice - two spices typically used by American cooks with pumpkin and sweet potatoes - are the main ingredients for spicy Jamaican jerk, while in Grenada, nutmeg is combined with garlic, scallions, ginger and herbs.
Caribbean dishes also highlight the bounty of the islands. Mangoes, papaya and starchy vegetables such as bonito - a white-fleshed sweet potato - are staples. Caribbean menus place a heavy emphasis on beans, with each island preferring a different type. Puerto Rican cooks favor red beans, while Cubans use black beans and Bahamians cook with pigeon peas (also know as gadules or goongoo peas).
Traditional Caribbean entrées feature chicken, pork and goat. On the larger islands such as Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, where grazing can be supported, beef is a more popular option.
Boiling, braising, stewing or jerking beef, chicken and goat turn these meats into traditional "comfort dishes" such as ropa vieja (shredded beef and savory sauce), arroz con pollo (rice with chicken) and curried goat stew. One-pot meals, which allow flavors and textures to meld, are common - especially rice and beans with chicken, pork or fish.
Carnival is as Caribbean as sunshine, palm trees and sandy beaches. Caribbean carnivals, which date to the eighteenth century, began as an opportunity for black Trinidadians to mimic and mock the lavish and elegant costumed and masked galas introduced by Roman Catholic French planters. Today, virtually every Caribbean island hosts a Carnival.
Our fair city will celebrate the flavors of the Caribbean with the third annual Chicago Carifete August 15, at The Midway Plaisance in Hyde Park, 5900 South between Cottage Grove and Stony Island. Carifete is a "masquerade on the street," and the festival will feature the Carifete Queen Pageant, a colorful parade of elaborately costumed revelers, musicians, street dancers and sensual Caribbean cuisine that can be eaten in the streets.
A number of local eateries specializing in island food will serve it up at Carifete, including Daddy O Jerkpit, Flo, Island Delight, Maxine's Caribbean Spice and Nathan's Chicago Style. So this weekend is a perfect time to head south and party. Or as they say at carnival, "Jump up and get on bad."
- For info about Carifete '98, call United Caribbean Nationals at (773)509-5079.
Daddy O Jerkpit, 7518 South Cottage Grove, (773)651-7355. Flo, 1434 West Chicago (312)243-0477.
Island Delight, 1461 East Hyde Park, (773)324-3100.
Maxine's Caribbean Spice, 1225 East 87th, (773)933-4714.
Nathan's Chicago Style, 1372 East 53rd, (773)288-5353.
(A. LaBan)
copyright 1998 New City Communications, Inc.