Caribbean food is very popular in England, a melting pot of cultural cuisines. But rather than always eat out (too expensive) or buy plastic-wrapped ready meals, why not just learn to make your favourite meals?
Never eat rice after 24 hours (a good poison hazard). Keep these recipes away from young children and pets due to unsafe ingredients like onion, garlic and strong spices. Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets.
Never eat fresh ackee (it looks like scrambled egg, but doesn’t taste like it). It’s a Jamaican fruit but can literally kill you if not prepared properly (a bit like that puffer dish episode of Columbo).
Natural Flava is by brothers Craig and Shaun, who grew up in London and are infulenced by their Rastifarian Ital diet, from Jamaica. These natural recipes are simple and upbeat, with feel-good recipes including:
- Potato & chickpea curry with roti
- Jerk cauliflower wings
- Coconut, black-eyed pea & sweet potato stew
- Plantain cookies
Craig and Shuan McAnuff were raised in London of Jamaican descent, and are bringing vegan Caribbean food to the modern kitchen. They were taught by their mum and granny how to cook recipes that now amass a huge fanbase.
Rachel Ama’s vegan eats
Rachel Ama’s Vegan Eats is a book of simple recipes by Londoner Rachel, who grew up with Caribbean and African heritage. These recipes are not bland or boring and take inspiration from real ingredients. Often made in one-pot with easy-to-find ingredients, each recipe also has a banging playlist so you can dance or sing while you cook!
Recipes include:
- Cinnamon French toast with strawberries
- Chickpea sweet potato falafel
- Caribbean fritters
- Plaintain burger
- Carrot cake waffles with cashew frosting
Rachel Ama grew up in London with West African and Caribbean heritage. A former KFC addict, she is now one of YouTube’s most popular vegan chefs, where she teaches others how to cook simple healthy food.
authentic vegan Caribbean island cuisine
Caribbean Vegan is a classic recipe book by a food professional who grew up in the islands, and went vegan after having an unfortunate experience with meat. Taymer Mason covers ‘jerk spices’ and traditional recipes from Barbados, St Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica. Recipes include:
- Cassava pancakes
- Trinidadian doubles
- Bajan booster shake
- Rasta pasta!
- Plantain Wellington
- Caribbean sushi
- Moringa bread
- Breadfruit ravioli
- Sweetened hibiscus tea (not for pregnancy)
- Ginger-kissed jam-filled beignets
- Rummy rum & raisin ice-cream
Taymer Mason is a cook, ecologist and microbiologist who grew up in the Caribbean. She went veggie after having an unfortunate experience with a meat pie? Today she is renowned for her expert recipes.
plant-based Puerto-Rican recipes
Abuela’s Plant-Based Kitchen is a different take. We often think of Jamaica and Barbados as the Caribbean, but of course it also includes islands near to Florida including Puerto Rico. This is kind a Latin-Caribbean fusion book of recipes, inspired from family recipes. If you’re concerned over avocado ethics, you can sub with smashed peas. Paired with personal stories, recipes include:
- Garbanzo (chickpea) stew with plaintain balls
- Papaya & tomato salad
- Cuban-style picadillo
- Flan de coco
Karla Salanari is a wife, mother and holistic health coach, who gained 82 pounds when expecting her daughter. So she taught herself about nutrition and begin to ‘flip’ recipes from her Puerto Rican heritage to ones that used wholesome plant-based foods and high quality ingredients.
