Food for Thoughts Memoirs is about generational stories through food, it is not about the ingredients, but different interpretations of the variety of fruits and vegetables shared between the Caribbean, Europe, Indian, China and above all African. It is about the different ways they are cooked, labelled, and remembered. It is about memories of yesterday and before, here and now and tomorrow and beyond.
This exhibition will encourage conversation between ages, races and genders because food is one of many things, we have in common other than but not excluding slavery.
From the middle of the 15th to the end of 19th century the Atlantic slave trade brought African slaves to British, Dutch, French, Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas, including the Caribbean. Their lives contributed to the wealth and development of Europe and after emancipation people travelled from and to the Caribbean Islands.
Traditional African foods brought over to the Caribbean included okra, black eyed peas, saltfish, ackee, mangos, kidney beans and rice, vegetables and fruits native to the Caribbean such as papaya, yams, guavas and cassava.
Throughout the Caribbean the fusion of African, European Indian/South Asian, Middle Eastern, and Chinese cuisine has influenced different national dishes. These dishes were brought over to the United Kingdom before and during the Windrush but were adapted due to lack of ingredients available. Throughout the years the various fruits and vegetables are more readily obtainable and have given not only the Caribbean population the ingredients needed but the whole of the United Kingdom.
The exhibition is curated by the Caribbean Social Forum with support by Professor Tracey Reynolds, Centre Applied Research. With thanks to Dave Hockham, David Waterworth, Shiva and members of the Caribbean Social Forum.
