‘Chicken in de Ruff’

By Cynthia Nelson

Hi Everyone,
Do you remember that there was a time in Guyana when chicken and chips used to be known as ‘Chicken in de Ruff’? Where it all began and how the name came about is uncertain, those who know have probably migrated with that knowledge or passed to the great beyond.

As I prepared for this column, I spent some time thinking about this special Guyanese phrase… ‘Chicken in de ruff’ – did we call it Chicken in de Ruff because the crust was rough and rustic, you know, where the chicken is battered and dusted so much that you cannot make out which part of the chicken you have in front of you until you bite into it? Or was it because the crust was so well crusted that it gently bruised your mouth as you bit into it? Either way, I am convinced that it had to do with the crust – its appearance and texture……