The Culinary Heritage of Trinbago – Our Seasonal and Traditional Foods

Description

This book took seven years of research to cover all of the foods in Trinidad and Tobago. There are short narratives on the origin of a number of the foods that I discovered in my research.

I taught cooking for 35 years, so the recipes are precise. On my Facebook page, there are pictures of dishes that people who bought the book made – and they came out absolutely perfect – so much so that I thought they were mine!

The book is very attractive with adequate photographs and conversational directions, not just in bulleted points. In fact, people who know me well say that they hear me giving them directions in their heads when they follow the recipes, especially those who did the cooking course with me!

About the Author

I have been trained in the British style of cooking as taught at St Joseph’s Convent in the early in the 60s, 70s and 80s. There was an emphasis on French cooking styles in these classes, so I am a more than competent cook.

On the insistence of my neice, who is married a Jamaican, I wrote the recipes for ‘Cooking with Ackee’ in Jamaica. That was my first foray into writing a cookbook.

However, having co-authored ‘Kunuwaton, the Culture and Cuisine of the First Peoples of Arima, Kairi’ with Dr Satnarine Balkaransingh, I discovered that I loved collecting and collating indigenous recipes. Queen Jennifer Cassar was happy to inform me that I had documented the recipes of the First Peoples, thereby saving them from extinction – and appropriation by others.

When Dr Balkaransingh did his seminal work ‘The Shaping of a Culture’ he asked me to write the recipes for the festivals that were included in his book. As I started putting the recipes together, I remembered Queen’s words, and I chose to cover all of our recipes, so that they are documented – and will be to the credit of Trinidad and Tobago – and not appropriated – as is occurring today with the term ‘Caribbean Roti’. So this is why I am very happy that I published this book six years ago.

It is my conviction that credit should be given to the origin of every recipe that we use today. I believe the narratives that I have included showing the origins of the foods will help to prevent Culinary Appropriation by others.

Connect with the Author

📧 Email: joop.singh@gmail.com

📱 Phone/WhatsApp: 787 8732

📸 Instagram: @Jassie3

📘 Facebook: Jassie Singh