‘Doublesing’ down

It didn’t take long for Jamaica dancehall artiste Beenie Man (Moses Davis) to walk back comments about the popular local street food, doubles.

Speaking on a US podcast, Mr Davis declared that while TT was his second favourite country, he did not eat doubles “because dogs did not eat it.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne did not hesitate to troll the comment, posting an image of himself online in a snappy suit preparing to eat doubles at a street vendor’s stall.

While it was a masterclass in social media clapback, what probably hit Mr Davis harder were the disapproving comments of his fans and countrymen who did not hesitate to roast him.

While the moment hardly constituted a regional incident, it suggested a promising level of Caribbean cultural integration and respect.

What Mr Davis did not understand when he made his careless comment is the resonance of the region’s food in defining, underlining, and preserving Caribbean identity.

As a successful artiste of one of the region’s art forms, he should have understood that music, clothing, speech patterns, and how each island’s food is prepared reflect their unique path to nationhood.

The importance of this must not be underestimated.

The world has been colonised by mass-market, processed foods that emphasise factory production, often non-existent flavour variations, and hasty cooking times.

The nuances of national meals are being determinedly bulldozed and hot-paved by fast foods and engineered meals that emphasise convenience over cooking styles, regional taste preferences, and even actual nutrition.

Fast foods successfully rode the transportation and shipping networks created by a globalised economy and are everywhere today.

The real triumph of the simple Trini doubles is its ability to compete and thrive as a quick, tasty on-the-go meal alternative.

The history of many Caribbean meals, created from cheap imports, leftover cuts of meat, and locally grown provisions inevitably leads to arguments in the Caribbean over which taste variants are the most successful.

In TT alone, the debates over the texture of a bara, the flavour of the channa, and the piquancy of the sauces offered by different vendors rage with the heat and eloquence of a Top Chef judging.

Those debates also flare over jerk chicken, cou cou, flying fish, and pepperpot at the drop of a pot spoon. Fast food is about profit. Caribbean foods are about love and history. Our regional meals bring us together.

Mr Davis is entitled to his disdain for doubles. We do not all have to enjoy the same foods, but we can be big enough to respect choices.

His apologies after being called out on his comment suggest that he’s learned an important lesson about Caribbean food culture. Respect begins at home.