[Sca-cooks] Late-period Caribbean food (was Asking a favor of Phlip]

[Robin Carroll-Mann]

> > Would you be so kind as to post this request for any info on medieval 
> > caribbean food recipes/sources to the SCA cooks list? It is so 
> > voluminous that I don't subscribe anymore, but I sure could use their 
> > expertise on this one. I HAVE discovered that rice came late to the 
> > Caribbean, in the 1800's with the East Indians and Orientals, as did 
> > curry. Jerk seasoning seems to be period though, and I'm betting 
> > Jamaican pasties or meat pies are too. I'm not planning this feast to 
> > be completely period because I think finding sources will be very 
> > difficult (the event is late period/Cavalier pirate themed), but I'd 
> > like to know what they ate in the Caribbean in period just for 
> > elucidation's sake. Thanks in advance!
> > 
> > YIS,
> > HL Aislinn Columba of Carlisle

One of the sources for information about New World food is the "Historia 
Moral y Natural de la Indias".  It was published in 1590, and was written by 
Jose de Acosta, a Jesuit priest who spent over 15 years in various parts of 
the New World.  The entire book is available online in Spanish at:
http://cervantesvirtual.com/FichaObra.html?portal=0&Ref=600

Here are a few excerpts that you may find of interest, along with some quick 
and dirty translations into English.  [And a few paraphrases.]

Las islas que llaman de Barlovento, que es la Española, Cuba y Puerto 
Rico, y otras por allí, tienen grandísima verdura y pastos, y ganados 
mayores en grande abundancia. Hay cosa innumerable de vacas y puercos 
hechos silvestres. La granjería de estas islas es ingenios de azúcar y 
corambre; tienen mucha cañafístola y jengibre...

The islands which they call Windward, which are Hispaniola, Cuba, and 
Puerto Rico, and others around there, have great verdure and pastures, and 
large cattle in great abundance.  There are innumerable cows and pigs that 
have gone wild.  The farning of these islands is sugar mills and cattle hides; 
they have a lot of canafistola [a kind of tree] and ginger...


En las islas que llaman de Barlovento, que son Cuba, la Española, Puerto 
Rico, Jamaica, se halla el que llaman manatí, extraño género de pescado, si 
pescado se puede llamar animal que pare vivos sus hijos, y tiene tetas, y 
leche con que los cría, y pace yerba en el campo; pero en efecto habita de 
ordinario en el agua, y por eso le comen por pescado, aunque yo cuando en 
Santo Domingo lo comí un viernes, casi tenía escrúpulo, no tanto por lo 
dicho, como porque en el color y sabor no parecían sino tajadas de ternera, 
y en parte de pernil, las postas de este pescado: es grande como una vara.  

In the Windward Islands, which are Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, 
there is what they call manatee, a strange kind of fish, if one can call "fish" 
an animal which bears live young, and has teats, and milk which it raises 
them on, and grazes on grass in the field, though normally it lives in water, 
and because of theat, they eat it as fish, although when I ate some in Santo 
Domingo on a Friday, I almost had scruples, not so much because of what I 
have said, but because in color and flavor they resembled slices of veal from 
the haunch, the slices of this fish; it is as big as a pike.

[He then discusses shark fishing, and comments on the many varieties of 
sharks.]

De las islas de Barlovento, que son Cuba, la Española, Jamaica, San Juan, 
no sé que se usase antiguamente el maíz; hoy día usan más la yuca y 
cazavi, de que luego diré.  

In the Windward islands, which are Cuba, Hispanola, Jamaica, San Juan, I 
do not know if they used maize of old; today they primerily use yuca and 
cassava, of which I will speak later.

En algunas partes de Indias usan un género de pan que llaman cazavi, el 
cual se hace de cierta raíz que se llama yuca. Es la yuca raíz grande y 
gruesa, la cual cortan en partes menudas y la rallan, y como en prensa la 
exprimen; y lo que queda es una como torta delgada, muy grande y ancha 
casi como una adarga. Esta así es el pan que comen; es cosa sin gusto y 
desabrida, pero sana y de sustento; por eso decíamos, estando en la 
Española, que era propia comida para contra la gula porque se podía comer 
sin escrúpulo de que el apetito causase exceso.  

In some parts of the Indies they use a kind of bread which they call cassava, 
which is made from a certain root which is called yuca.  Yuca is a large and 
thick root, which they cut into small pieces and grate, and they squeeze it, 
as if in a press, and that which remains is like a thin cake, very large and 
wide like a shield.  This is the bread that they eat, which is a tasteless and 
insipid thing, but healthy and sustaining; because of this we said, when we 
were in Hispaniola, that it was the proper food to oppose hunger, because 
one can eat it without fear that appetite will cause excess.

Es necesario humedecer el cazavi para comello, porque es áspero y raspa; 
humedécese con agua o caldo fácilmente, y para sopas es bueno, porque 
empapa mucho, y así hacen capirotadas de ello. 

It is necessary to moisten the cassava in order to eat it, because it is rough 
and it scratches; it is easily moistened with water or broth, and it is good for 
sops, bacause it absorbs a lot, and so they make layers of it.

Hay género de yuca que llaman dulce, que no tiene en su zumo ese veneno, 
y esta yuca se come así en raíz cocida o asada, y es buena comida. Dura 
el cazavi mucho tiempo, y así lo llevan en lugar de bizcocho para 
navegantes. 

There is a kind of yuca that they call sweet, which does not have this poison 
in its juice, and this yuca is eaten as a root, boiled or roasted, and it is good 
food.  The cassava lasts for a long time, and so they carry it for sailors in 
place of biscuits.

[He goes on to say that neither wheat nor maize grow well in the islands, 
and that the humidity affects flour imported from Spain, New Spain, or the 
Canaries, so that it makes tasteless and ill-nourishing bread.]

Las piñas son del tamaño y figura exterior de las piñas de Castilla: en lo de 
dentro totalmente difieren, porque ni tienen piñones, ni apartamientos de 
cáscaras, sino todo es carne de comer, quitada la corteza de fuera; y es 
fruta de excelente olor, y de mucho apetito para comer: el sabor tiene un 
agrillo dulce y jugoso: cómenlas haciendo tajadas de ellas, y echándolas un 
rato en agua y sal... dáse en tierras cálidas y húmedas; las mejores son de 
las islas de Barlovento.  

The pines are of the same size and shape as the pines of Castille; in the 
inside they are completely different, because they do not have pinenuts, nor 
separate shells, but everything is food for eating, once the outer peel is 
removed; and it is a fruit of excellent fragrance, and very appetizing to eat: 
the flavor has a slightly sour sweetness, and it is juicy; they eat them in 
slices, and cast upon them a little water and salt... they grow in hot and 
humid lands; the best are from the Windward Islands.

Hay unos plátanos pequeños y más delicados y blandos, que en la 
Española llaman dominicos; hay otros más gruesos y recios y colorados. 

There are some plantains which are small and more delicate and softer, that 
in Hispaniola are called dominicos; there are others which are larger and 
coarser and red.  

[He discusses which European plants can be grown in the New World, 
though many of them only flourish in certain areas.  Oranges, limes, citrons, 
and similar trees do very well in hot and humid areas.]

This is only a small sampling of the information in the book.  It should also 
be remembered that Fr. Acosta did not give a comprehensive description of 
the fauna and flora of the New World.  For instance, he only mentions a few 
kinds of fish out of the many varieties that are found in the Caribbean.

If I were going to do a 16th century Caribbean feast, I'd probably serve a 
number of the above foodstuffs, plus some compatible Spanish dishes.  
Maybe something like, oh... pork or beef, grilled fish with orange juice, yuca, 
eggplant, plantains, and pineapple.  I would avoid serving manatee.

As you said, the pirate era in the Caribbean is really post-period.  That's 
17th/18th century, and I know very little about the food of that time and place.

I hope the above helps a little.  (If nothing else, it has helped me avoid some 
of the housecleaning I was going to do tonight.)


Brighid ni Chiarain *** mka Robin Carroll-Mann
Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
rcmann4 at earthlink.net