Caribbean and meatless? It is possible

Hi Everyone, It’s the season of Lent and, as usual, my inbox is full of requests for vegetarian and meat-free recipes. One woman wrote to me expressing her utter frustration at how difficult it is to find Caribbean vegetarian recipes. But is this true? Maybe. I know that meat is a big part of many of our dishes. I have one friend who thinks that the meal is not finished if there is no meat.

However, there are many sides to Caribbean cooking and one thing we should recognise is that not only are there parts of our food heritage that have always been strictly vegetarian (many Caribbean Hindus are vegetarian, Rastafari are often vegetarian) but also our traditional ways of eating have often included meatless meals. If you’ve been reading this column for a while, you know that I have discussed the fact that back in the day – not so far back,