Discrimination and desperation in the shaping of Tobago’s food culture

The celebrated heritage food culture of Tobago undoubtedly has its groundings in West African traditions.

However, during and after the period of enslavement, there were two forces which influenced the determination of the food and agricultural policies which were applied on the island.

While the food traditions were largely maintained right up to the 1960s, there were forces which were operational since the island was drawn into plantation agriculture, which affected the food practices.

This, the last segment of the series on the island’s food culture, examines the underlying factors which determined the nature of the policy. These are discrimination and desperation.

It was evident during the 1960s that the process of transformation of the island’s food culture was underway, with a change in the food service providers on the island.

During the 1960s, the main food outlets were: Miss Matilda’s parlour at the corner of Milford and Wilson Road (who specialised in float and accra); Miss Scobie on Carrington and Bay Street (where if you didn’t get there early you would not get food); Jimmy Morris on Burnett Street (sandwiches and ice cream and local fruit drinks); McCoul’s Bakery; Koo’s parlour at the corner of Bacolet and Main Street ( mainly patronised by school children) and Wong’s parlour at the start of the Northside Road; Eddy’s snackette on Main Street, Eddies on Wheels – the first mobile food service on the island; Blue Gardenia snackette (close to the Botanic Gardens), Cocrico Snackette on Carrington Street; and Jattan’s roti shop.

By the end of the 60s there were clear signs that change was underway and these old establishments were becoming outmoded. Most were nonexistent by the end of the decade.

However, it was not simply the forces of modernisation that were at work, but the underlying historical factors which were dictated by the colonial administration on a plantation island.

The first determinant of the island’s food history was the central role of imports to provide the food needs of the population. From the very start of its colonial history, it was established that imports were essential to the island’s food supply to maintain the lifestyle of the European population and provide the lifeline for the enslaved population.

Hence, there was discrimination in the imports, which serviced population needs according to race and class and particularly to their ascribed role in the society. For the white population, European foods and wines were imported, while items which were cheaper and were considered basic foods were imported to feed the enslaved African population.

The food traditions which were concretised after Emancipation emanated from the enslavement experience. The basic food items allocated to the enslaved population were imported first from the British American colonies, and after their independence, from the remaining British North American colonies in Canada.

The imported items which were considered basic were wheat flour, cornmeal, salted fish (cod), salted meats (beef, pork, pig tails and feet).

This discriminatory pattern of importation continued until the island was faced with crises which created the need to cut costs. Wars, particularly the American War of Independence, stimulated an urgent need to trim the food bill.

Then, because of desperation, from the late 18th century, the enslaved population was encouraged to grow its own food, and it was this practice which led a food culture that was based on the produce of local agriculture to be concretised.

African traditional food practices became wedded to those imported food items which they were fed as enslaved workers. The prevailing food culture was moored on the cultivation and consumption of ground provisions, corn and cassava. Hence, there developed a classist pattern of food production and consumption, for the working class as distinct from the landowners and administrators.

Local food production never received official policy stimulus, so there remained an agricultural system in which there were two levels of imports – basic items for the local consumption of the lower classes, and fine foods for the European palate, while the other tier was focused on the export crop.

Economic difficulties forced a dependence on locally-produced foods by the plantation owners, who used them as import substitutes and prepared them into European-style dishes. However, after the demise of the sugar industry, the new landowners of the African population devoted themselves to food production to support their families.

This remained a characteristic of the island which, as indicated in an earlier column, became fully integrated into its culture. However, the island’s food was cast into a mould of classes, food for the poor and working class and black population, and that for the white upper class.

World War II led to the introduction of foreign foods imported to feed the soldiers and sailors on the US bases. Among them were cornflakes, bacon and sausage, which became the desired breakfast items and replaced the porridge that was the norm. In addition, canned goods such as Milo and Ovaltine were identified as signals of upward mobility and also became desired breakfast items.

The growth of the tourist drive added to the need for food imports, more of which became available on the island.

Hurricane Flora had a significant impact on the food culture. In the first instance it destroyed the island's agriculture, and the hurricane-relief works employed former agricultural workers who never returned. The island then became dependent on food imports.

Secondly, the increased circulation of money allowed more people to afford imported food items, and the taste for them was assisted by the hurricane-relief food packages. which included a range of canned and dried imported food and fruit and food items.

The increased presence of construction workers on the island stimulated the emergence of a number of food outlets which catered to their food needs.

After 1963, the class nature of food became very evident. Rice became a staple replacing, provisions, which became a side dish. One of the more noticeable changes was the constitution of the Sunday lunch, which came to include macaroni pie and potato salad, along with callalloo and stew peas.

Later, under Chinese influence, fried rice and fried chicken – for which the local chickens (yardies) were not suitable – were added. Fried chicken and chips became available in the snackettes around the town.

The opening of a soft-drink factory on the island made soft drinks considered essential for the children, whose snacks became packaged items such as corn curls. The changed taste contributed to the growth of street food and fast-food suppliers which transformed the island’s food culture.

The underlying stimulant was the perception that certain foods were suitable fare for the upwardly mobile, modern and fashionable.

The growth of local patronage of fast-food outlets and the increase in the number of outlets provide indices of the extent to which the island’s food culture has veered away from its traditional practices and the lasting impact of discrimination and desperation in its food policy.