Stirring poverty into creativity: The history of Tobago's food

Dr Rita Pemberton

Food constitutes an essential feature of the Caribbean historical experience. Still, despite this, except for the History of Jamaican Food, the references to food in Caribbean history are confined to those items which were introduced by the colonisers, what items were fed to the enslaved population and what they cultivated during the post-emancipation years.

Recipe books appeared early in the 20th century, particularly after World War II in the drive to encourage people to grow and eat locally produced food. The driving force was a reaction to the threat to shipping across the Atlantic which was posed by the German attempt to establish a blockade on ships travelling to and from the Caribbean. The British government sought to ensure that the population in the colonies had access to food to prevent the hungry from running into the arms of the communists.

After the war, there was an effort to teach nutrition and food preparation to teachers which stimulated the production of recipe books which included foods that were considered traditional some were given more elevated names and the ingredients were now hoisted into specified quantities which necessitated equipment which were not in the homes of the majority of the population. The commonly used unit of measurement in Tobago – the kn – was not even acknowledged nor were the calabash or cups made from discarded milk tin used to dip and measure flour and other dry items.

These recipe books did not make specific mention of Tobago nor were the dishes which originated on the island mentioned. The recipe books on Trinidad and Tobago were intended to assist the wives and friends of the ruling elite to settle into the colony easily, survive the war crisis of shortages of imported food items and facilitate food substitution by the wider public during the wartime crisis.

Despite their omission from such books, it is important to recognise the efforts of the faceless women who, though lumped into the broad category as labourers, toiled in their kitchens day and night preparing meals for their families across the trying times of the post-emancipation, post union and post World Wars I and II eras, in addition to their other roles as labourers on estates, gardeners on their own plots of land and vendors of homemade items all in the effort to generate increased incomes to sustain their families.

The pattern of cooking and eating of the population was affected by the pattern of food and plant introductions imported by the imperial government, influences of the First People and what was growing naturally on the island and what they were able to cultivate in addition to the influence of the African foodways which came with the captives from Africa.

Tobago was known for the cultivation of food crops; ground provisions, pigeon peas, corn, dasheen, cassava, eddoes, tannias, bananas and plantains. Their agricultural practices mirrored their food choices hence corn and pigeon peas were paired corn being a voracious feeder of nitrogen and pigeon peas for nitrogen fixation and maintenance of soil fertility. Bananas and plantains, breadfruit which was specifically introduced to feed the enslaved Africans on the island, grew easily as did cassava, which was native to the region, sweet potatoes, dasheen, tannias, yams and a wide range of fruit.

Although life was difficult things were expensive and prices kept rising while wages lagged far behind and money was short, but in addition to tending their gardens around the house the women were responsible for making meals out of the food items that were cultivated in their gardens. It should not be assumed that they simply boiled and ate the items that were available from their gardens and those that were purchased in the village shop. From all appearances, they added their creative touch to the foods that they prepared resulting in the production of a range of items which never got included in any of the cookbooks which appeared from the 20th century onwards.

Survival was a key influencer in food preparation. Because of the cost, the use of imported items had to be minimised because these prices were beyond the means of the working class. Women involved themselves into food processing to provide items which were essential for meal preparation. Imported wheat flour which was limited and expensive was substituted by corn and cassava flour. Locally grown corn was ground into flour and made into popular dumplings, coocoo, fried bake, and porridge. Corn on the cob was roasted or boiled as a snack. But corn soup was a meal which included hearty servings of ground provisions, dumplings and flavoured with salt meat.

Cassava flour was used to make bread, bakes, dumplings and cuckoo called conconteh. It was also made into farine, which had multiple uses. It was mixed with sugar as a snack for children, it was added to the local chocolate tea to provide a hearty breakfast, it was placed in a bowl soaked with hot water mixed with a liquid kn of coconut oil. When it cooled it took the shape of the dish and was sliced and served along with a protein dish. Cassava was also used to make starch cakes (a dessert) and balls for stiffening clothes. They made their own oil from coconut, and made corned and smoked fish from locally caught fish as substitutes for imported salted fish. They used small pieces of salted meat to flavour food and even when these constituted the main protein items in the meal.

The one-pot meal was commonplace. These usually included some variety of peas or beans; blackeye, red beans, split peas or pigeon peas. which facilitated the introduction of mixed meats in one pot. In this way, the women utilised leftover bits of meat for the meal of the following day which could include pork, beef and chicken (yardie), goat, turtle or wild meat in one pot. It was a cost-cutting waste-reducing measure but it also provided a variety of flavours in the meal.

Soups constituted another set of one-pot meals which included corn soup, soosumber soup, cowheel soup, yaba (provision and fish) and oil down (sancoche) with provision and salt meat.

Pelau was a very popular one-pot meal because pigeon peas were available on the island. However, pelau was made with other peas, such as blackeye beans, red beans and split peas. Women in different parts of the island made a striking innovation when, in their search for variety along with economy, made use of the availability of curry which came with the Indian presence on the island and added it to meal preparation. Curry pelau was the result. This dish which became a novel addition to the menu has been prepared and served in some homes in Tobago across the 20th century. Varieties of curry pelau include curried mixed meat pelau, curried fish or seafood pelau and curried hardboiled egg pelau. In addition, there is curry crab, for which Tobago became well known, curried fish, curried green bananas, which were used to substitute for imported potatoes during World War II and of course, curried pigeon peas.

As the history of Tobago is being more closely explored, more attention should be placed on the multiple roles played by women in society and particularly, to their role in food preparation for their families. In their efforts to circumvent the cloud of poverty which hung over the island, they served as food cultivators, food processors and in their search for variety, they were creative in their kitchens.

Fast forward to the present day some of the items they produced; smoked fish, corned fish, dumplings, cuckoo, corn soup, and curry pelau have attracted the attention of chefs and have been elevated from their lowly origins to cocktail servings as hors d’oeuvre at receptions and inclusion on the menus of hotels, restaurants and eateries some of which offer their patrons the mixed meat option.