Every time general elections come around in Guyana, we find ourselves in the same place – shaking our heads as we wait for days for the official results to be announced, the country filled with unease and tension and suspicion rife. Each time we ask the same question – when will the institution(s) charged with the execution of this task have systems and structures in place to facilitate an efficient, competent and timely release of information, regardless of the outcome? And so today, just as in the past, I repeat portions of a column given the occasion.
Originally titled ‘An Independence Food Dream,’ the column was first written in 2007 in honour of that year’s independence celebrations. In 2015, when there was a change of administration, an amended version was published. And now in 2020, I find the need to repeat some of what I have said on previous occasions – we all have a place at the table, regardless of who or whom or which party you voted for. (At the completion of this column – Thursday, March 5, 2020, 10 am Eastern Standard time, the final results of the elections had not been announced.)
Often, when I think of my country, Guyana, I think about a particular dish, Cook-Up Rice – a large luscious pot of cook-up. This humble, simple, yet complex dish, for me, personifies so many of our complexities, adaptability, modesty and good-natured hospitality. We are Guyanese.
Cook-up Rice is the coming together of a variety of meats, rice, peas, herbs and coconut milk to create a one-pot dish that is a complete meal.
The simplicity of Cook-up Rice is seen in its ingredients. It is a dish, like so many others that was created out of a need to make-do, hence the use of various bits of meat and poultry, cured and fresh.
The complexity of Cook-up comes into focus when a cook has to balance and determine the various cooking times when making the dish with a combination of meats, the type of peas, rice, the right amount of coconut milk, and salt, especially when making the cook-up with salt-meat and fresh meat. It requires some skills that you can’t learn from a book, you have to experience it and immerse yourself in the process. And if you don’t get it right (as in the way you like it) the first time, keep trying, because it is worth it.
Cook-up Rice is easily adaptable to suit the palates of all Guyanese. If you don’t eat pork/pigtail, you can make a beef cook-up. If you don’t eat beef or tripe, you can make a chicken cook-up. If you don’t eat chicken, you can make a shrimp cook-up. If you don’t eat shrimp, you can make a veggie cook-up. The peas – you can take your pick: split peas, black-eye peas, pigeon peas, red beans, kidney beans. It is totally flexible. The flexibility of choosing a particular protein, peas, beans or rice does not mean that there is a compromise in taste because the other ingredients remain the same: the coconut milk, fresh herbs, onions and the must-have boiled pepper cooked in the rice, scotch bonnet or wiri-wiri. Each combination has its own unique flavour. Cook-up Rice can be as individual as you are.
And what would proper cook-up rice be without some fried ripe plantains, fried fish, preferably Banga-mary, a couple of steamed okras and a little salad of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers? And of course, to wash it all down, an ice-cold glass of Swank (limeade).
Cook-up Rice is also the dish we love to make when having company over, it’s one-pot cooking that can feed many. Food brings people together.
Just as in so many homes across Guyana, Saturdays in our house was Cook-up Rice day. The day would just not be the same without this dish. And on Old Year’s Night… need I say more? Yuh know we got to have we Cook-up. People “sharpen their mouths” and sometimes starve themselves all day just so that they can “ring a lash in de Cook-up.” Or as I’ve heard others say, “Do justice to de Cook-up.”
The Cook-up Rice is my metaphor of our diversity and a symbol of how good we can be, together. Our diversity should always be viewed from a position of strength. It shows our capacity and ability to adapt, accommodate and advance. We need each other to be our best selves and to survive, just as a good pot of Cook-up Rice needs coconut milk, peas and rice in order to make it the outstanding dish it is. As we embark on another period of governance (by whichever party), let’s pay our respects to all of Guyana’s people, all Guyanese! Too often when we get together and when Guyana gets spoken of, we only think of the two predominant races – Indians and Blacks and yet it is the diversity of the other races too, that makes Guyana such a blessed and culturally rich place. Let’s raise a toast, eat some Cook-Up Rice, Pepperpot, Roti and Curry, Foo-foo, Fried Rice, Garlic Pork and Conkies and promise to work and make a dream of togetherness a reality – a dream where we all have a place at the table to discuss our future together.
Cynthia
cynthia@tasteslikehome.org
