Dear Editor,
I traveled the world, visited close to a hundred countries, some multiple times, comparing and contrasting Guyanese culture (including food) with theirs (others). Every place has its Xmas dishes! Our food is the best at Christmas and at all times as per my palate or taste. Away from the Guyanese or Caribbean community in USA, I miss my ethnic dishes.
Everyone has ethnocentric sentiments, feeling their culture (food) is the best. They grew up, immersed in their diet or food habits, developed a palate or gastronomy of their own cultural food, and one would naturally expect them to like, appreciate, understand, and indulge in theirs more than others without belittling or disparaging others. I love (Indian) Guyanese and Trini culture (our cuisine) which is among the best globally and particularly during Christmas time. But I appreciate others, never denigrating or belittling others. No culture, other than West Indian, has as delicious food, cake, and drinks as ours; they are special for the season. I would expect people from other cultures or countries to say the same about theirs. I am not offended as each person has his own palate of likability and appreciation of foods.
But I won’t trade mine for any other.
I always experienced problems with food in all my travels, including in India, my ancestral homeland that I traveled to some sixty times My stomach can’t handle the spices and milk products; the vegetables are great but dahi is a problem.
I don’t consume beef, pork, and wild meats. I don’t t really care for meat. So inevitably, food is a problem for me especially in European countries, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, and other Slavic countries where beef and pork predominate. Thailand has the best orientalist food followed by Vietnam and Cambodia.
But for me, no cuisine is as delicious as Guyanese and West Indian (Trini and Jamaican being among the best). Food in Grenada, Antigua, Barbados, Tobago, St Kitts, St Lucia, Suriname, Turks, Bahamas, Curaçao, Aruba, St Martin are also very appetizing, closest to Guyanese cuisine although some of them can’t make a good dhal puri like ours, Trinis and Surinamese. Trinis make the best dhal puri, Jamaicans the best curried goat, Suriname, the best bara, and Guyanese the best mutto and chowmein. Guyana has the best and most varied fish in the region. Some foods, curried dishes in particular in the French (except Guadeloupe and Martinique) and Dutch islands are influenced by Guyanese. Guadeloupe and Martinique food is typical French with some Indian influence. French cuisine was or is not as tasty as West Indian. Spanish a little better than French. Italian is not a favorite of mine; I don’t like the carbs and meat is a no. Off course, every food depends on your palate and what you can consume. Meat is out for me. And in Europe and countries in the Americas, the choice is limited. I like the potatoes in Ireland and the mushrooms in Scotland. In Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, people eat a lot of beef and pork. But one can get nice lamb and duck in Brazil and Argentina; the best fresh water fish is in Brazil; a lot more than we have in Guyana. Panama also has nice fish and vegetarian dishes though not as good as ours. Chile’s food is okay although my time there was spent in the jungle.
One can get curried dishes in most countries. Thailand has some of the tastiest curried dishes and a fabulous soup. Filipino food is also delicious, close to ours. India is too spicey for me but has the most assortment of dishes including vegetables. It also has the best dhals besides yellow or arhaar dhal. Naan is delicious. The best dhal is from Guyana, Trinidad, Suriname, and Holland. Trinidad dhal is thicker. India’s deal is buttery. India makes lovely prawns. The best curry remains Guyana and Trinidad. Guyana also has the best fried fish. Singapore and Malaysia have very good cuisine; the curry is very tasty and a meal is cheap, cheaper than India or Guyana.
I am spending the holiday season in Italy, not my first. I was here several years ago and multiple times before that. My palate does not fit in nicely with the heavily carbohydrated cuisine and all the sweet cannoli for dessert. I did have excellent fish in the Italian rivière some thirty years ago when the lira was the currency in use; now it is Euro. My first experience with Italy was as a student in the Vatican over 45 years ago. I came on a scholarship to study comparative religions. The food was very bland and tasteless. It is tasty now but still no comparison with West Indian. In 1985, hundreds of us were seated at different tables; we were fed en masse for each meal. A bowl was placed on the table for each one of us. A server came dropping some dried noodles in the bowl. Then another server poured boiling hot water in the bowl. That was soup — nothing else added to it, no salt, onion, season, ground provision.
For the main course, in the plate a server brought boiled spaghetti or noodles, another server poured hot tomato sauce. That was a meal — no seasoning or pepper. Today, the soup and cuisine are different. The soup has vegetables, potatoes, seasoning, and more items and very tasty. The noodles or pasta, ziti, lasagna, spaghetti, etc actually has seasoning now unlike in the 1980. One can now manage the Italian food although it us still carb based.
Italy is also a different place. It is well decorated for the season. Rome and other cities rival Paris, Manhattan, Madrid, Singapore, Malaga, Los Angeles, etc. In 1985, there were hardly any Indians and Blacks. Today there are hundreds of thousands of South Asians and a large number of Ethiopians and other Africans. All kinds of Indian foods are found including roti, seime, nainwah, loukie, karela, Guyanese kind pumpkin, baigan, etc. The place even has pumpkin soup.
For Christmas, Guyanese and Trini dishes are the best —nothing beats rice. dhal, a variety of curries, pachounie, dhal puri, chowmein (better than spaghetti and ziti) and so many other items. The best cakes are also from Guyana and Trinidad. Our rum cake has no comparison although Guyanese Americans seem to have the best recipe for cakes. The Trinis crave for our black cake. The Italians and other nationalities or ethnic groups would also feel their dishes and cakes are the best. I won’t trade Guyanese food for any other and especially at Christmas— all those mouthwatering dishes.