Hi Everyone,
Are you like me – do you give your best friends and loved ones a list of food to bring when they’re coming to visit from overseas, especially if they are coming from home? I do! A few days ago I had a taste of home. My mom’s visiting and she brought for me Chinese Fried Rice and Chinese Cakes (moon cakes). Bliss!
Each one of you reading this column right now, and living abroad, no matter which part of the world you are from, can identify with my excitement. Sure enough, these days we can get most ingredients that we find in our homelands, and we can create many of the foods we long for, but there is absolutely nothing quite as satisfying, fulfilling and comforting as eating and enjoying food when it comes directly from home. At these moments, I become a bad diner. I overeat; I eat too quickly. I become mean – I declare upfront that I am not sharing. I want silence and at the same time I bore my dining companions with my many “ummms” of pleasure and constant repeating of: “This is so good!”
In the past, I’ve had my mom bring things such as fried fish, black pudding, Cream Soda and Coca Cola! Hey, don’t judge me, the Cream Soda and coke here in Barbados is good but not as good as the ones I enjoy from Guyana! I tell you, I become a crazed and obsessed woman. The night before my mother is due to travel, I’ll call with my checklist in hand to ensure that she’s got my stuff! And then, the next day, I’ll be dreaming of the goodies that are coming my way. When she arrives and we are settled in the car and on the way home, I will ask again, just to ensure that my food stash is intact (asking about her well-being will come later. There is more serious business to discuss)! Actually, this time when she came, her flight was delayed and she took a long time to clear customs and immigration.
Isn’t it amazing how food, a taste of home, can make one so happy? Okay, and crazy! I’ve watched the same joy on my friend Susan’s face when I’d take cheese and Bajan salt bread for her to the United States. I’ve heard many stories of tears of joy, laughter and feasting at the sight of a Ju-C red drink, a ham cutter, a snack box (chicken & chips), conkies, doubles, salt fish, pork pies, pastries, candy, sugar cakes, etc. In many ways, we become kids again.
What is interesting to note is the items we elect to have brought to us as a treat and a taste of home. For my own part, fried rice is among my favourite dishes, and I do so enjoy the taste of Guyanese-Chinese Fried Rice. As food travels, the tastes are adjusted to suit the palates of the population that enjoy it, and given the multi-cultural make up of countries like Guyana where there is a range of heat (pepper), spice, sweet, salt, savoury, and sour, the re-creations and adaptations are bound to be unique, different. While the foundations of the preparation of the food might be the same, for example, the method of cooking the rice, it is the seasoning and combination of flavours that are used that make a dish outstanding. As to the Chinese cakes, it is one of the pastries I enjoy because it has just the right amount of sweetness and pastry, enough not to make me feel guilty. The other thing is that because it is such a time-consuming thing to make, making my own often is something that I’d rather not do.
It might seem weird to ask my mom to bring me Cream Soda and Coca Cola. Surely Coke is made from a special secret formula and is the same the world over?! I’m not convinced Coke in Guyana tastes different from Coke in Barbados, which tastes different from Coke in the USA. I think it is the type of sweeteners they use – but the folks at Coke aren’t talking. I just know when I’m in Barbados I long for Guyanese Coke and when I am in the US I can’t wait to get a good Bajan Coke once again.
Things like cheese and butter, our Caribbean palates are saturated (in a good way) with the taste of English, Irish and New Zealand products. The cheese is sharper and more flavourful; the butter tastes like butter.
Snack boxes (chicken and chips), whether they come from Royal Castle, Demico, Chefette, each is prized for it’s own unique taste. To have some jerk pork or chicken brought to you directly from the Jerk Pit in Jamaica is a treasure to savour and be stingy about.
Breads are another of those food items that become must-haves. Tennis Rolls, Salt Breads, Johnny Cakes, Festivals and Bakes are all items that are expertly prepared with secret recipes and particular techniques to impart that flavour and texture that make them singularly unique in taste.
Fried fish – this request has more to do with the fish itself rather than the method of preparation. Various types of fish are not available the world over though some of us may enjoy similar climate, etc. And so to have a taste of a particular fish that you grew up eating and enjoyed is to be prized. Though I can get Bangamary here in Barbados, there is something extra special about having it bought fresh and prepared especially for you.
Let me know when you’re coming, I’ll tell you what to bring!
Cynthia
tasteslikehome@gmail.com
www.tasteslikehome.org
