Rosalee Brown
FEBRUARY IS celebrated as Black History Month so, let us look briefly at our history and how it has influenced our food choices.
Jamaica's motto 'Out of many one people' suggests diversification and, that is no where more evident in our culture than in our food choices. The largest percentage of our population is of African descent, mainly from West Africa, where the food today is referred to as "hot and spicy". West Africans use scotch bonnet peppers, large amounts of ground provisions, small amounts of meats and generous amounts of fat. Their current menu includes dishes which are similar to ours, a lot of stews and one pot meals and an interesting paste made from fish and hot spices called Shitor which looks similar to our Solomon Gundy, but does not taste the same.
INFLUENCES
However, Jamaican eating influences also go way back before our African ancestors:
The Tainos used a wide array of fish, crab, wild birds, cassava, bammy, cornmeal porridge, roasted and boiled corn. These still form a part of our main fare today.
The Spaniard's influence includes escovietched fish, coconut gizzada and the method of soaking fruits in rum/wine for Christmas pudding.
The British brought us Easter bun, a wide array of pastries and corn/salted beef.
The African slaves prepared dishes in Jamaica such as dip and fall back (cod fish fritters), jerk and a drink called "wash", made from wet sugar and water.
The Germans brought us baked ham, frankfurter and sausage.
The Chinese brought us soy sauce, deep-frying, stir frying and sweet and sour dishes.
The East Indians brought wheat flour, eggplant, roti and curry.
And the Jews introduced us to exotic ways of preparing egg plant/garden egg. (Source: The National Library of Jamaica)
Our culinary heritage is influenced by all our ancestors, the different voyages of the time, the spoils they brought back to the island and also the technology of the day, as salting and smoking was a popular method of preservation. Roasting and boiling were popular methods of cooking our ground provisions. Roasting is not as popular in homes today, except for breadfruit and our ground provisions are roasted mostly by food vendors and has become more of a delicacy. Frying is now a popular method for preparing our vegetables, dumplings, plantain, rice and many other dishes including already high-fat meats.
INCRESAE IN FAT
Globalisation and trade also influence our current eating. Our per capita dietary energy supply (DES) has increased from 2,223 kcal/day in 1965 to 2,680 kcal/day in 2000. Our DES has increased by 20 per cent and our requirement by 4.6 per cent. A large part of DES however, is from fat and sweeteners. There has been a six-point increase in fat from 1964 to 2000, reaching 25.9 per cent in the DES.
Although there has been marginal decrease in carbohydrate consumption, there has been an increase in sweeteners in the dietary energy supply and this is the second largest food group behind cereals to provide energy in the dietary energy supply (Source: FAOSTAT).
This trend does not speak to equity between our poorest and richest and also our individual choices. This new trend in eating behaviour speaks to our inheritance of some of the diseases which are associated with not only our choice of ingredients for our dishes, but our method of preparation and current influences of trade and globalisation.
We need to enjoy our culinary history, but go easy on the new influences of excess oils, sweeteners (including high-fructose corn syrups) and processed starches.
Rosalee Brown is a registered dietician/nutritionist who operates Integrated Nutrition and Health Services; email: yourhealth@gleanerjm.com.
