Discovering the culinary joy of caribbean foods

I'm a real gourmand. I love good food, and I don't really discriminate about where it comes from. I could have a chateaubrianne, or lobster tails, or a good burger and fries and be equally happy as long as all of the above was prepared correctly and the ingredients were fresh.

One of the nice things about living in New York city is that I'm able to exercise that gourmand streak of mine on a daily basis if I so desire. And I can exercise it on anything from Chinese to Thai, from French to Indian, from pub food to huate-est of haute cuisine. New York City is the center of it all when it comes to the universe of food, and I couldn't be happier to live here.

And one of the reasons is that, here in New York, I have had the opportunity to be introduced to types of cuisines that I normally wouldn't have had any contact with. Take the various caribbean foods on offer here, for example. You won't find that in Boston or Chicago, but in New York you can choose your favorite caribbean foods on just about any street corner. And while there are similarities thoughout the world of caribbean foods, there's also enough diversity to keep the selective palate interested long after the first taste of jerk chicken.

And yeah, that's what it's called. Jerk chicken is nice and spicy, and is similar to the Creole cuisines of Louisiana and the United States Gulf coast in general, but is still distinct in and of itself. And what's more, each island of the Caribbean has its own take on this traditional dish, so the jerk chicken you get in Antigua will be different than what you get in the Bahamas. It's part of the joy and wonder of caribbean foods.

There's also somewhat of a divide among the anglophone, or English speaking, part of the caribbean, and the Spanish-speaking part of the caribbean. Stuff like curry goat and chicken is more popular in the english speaking areas, and dishes tend to combine fruits, vegetables and tubers in order to add create a sweet and sour taste that is definitive of the region.

The spanish speaking isles tend toward more savory dishes, with chiles and garlic, and especially lime, playing key roles. Over course there is variance across the spanish speaking isles just as there is among the anglophone isles, and you could spend years in the caribbean eating different caribbean foods and never have quite the same dish twice.