This text is part of the special book Plaisirs
Caribbean cuisine is rich in color and flavor. Quebecers, great travelers with diverse culinary horizons, are fond of it. Many of them have already tasted a good djon djon rice, a joumou soup, a griot, a dish of lambi or succulent acras. At a time when “locavorism” is entering culinary conversations, we asked Paul Toussaint, chef of the Kamùy restaurant, Jean-Philippe Vézina, market gardener at Jardins Lakou, and Lindsay Brun, owner of the Sucre pastry shop Brun and collaborator on the show I eatif it were possible to eat typically Caribbean while inserting local products in the process.
When asked what is the place of Creole cuisine in the Quebec culinary ecosystem, Paul Toussaint, Jean-Philippe Vézina and Lindsay Brun agree that it is present, but above all well represented.
“It’s not a competition between culinary cultures,” says Paul Toussaint, who was born in Jacmel, Haiti. It is really a question of representativeness, of enhancement. Before, Creole culture was associated with snacks, less with a culinary experience. The Agrikol restaurant made it possible to change that, and that’s what I always try to do at Kamùy. »
And if Quebecers have made a place for this cuisine on their plates and in their hearts, it is because they were introduced to it by travel, of course, but also by their friends who have other culinary traditions. Lindsay Brun, who is also of Haitian origin, explains: “When you are young, you invite your friends to eat at your place, and you, you will eat at their place. You then discover new dishes. We get to know each other and our different cultures together. »
A little history
Creole cuisine is a mixed cuisine, resulting from the meeting of three continents, America, Europe and Africa, during the colonial era.
The Atlantic slave trade is a very dark period in the history of African and Caribbean peoples. Slaves, captured in Africa and transported across the ocean by boat in terrible conditions, were exchanged between Europeans and their colonies for various products, such as weapons or alcohol. Once they arrived in the Caribbean, either in Cuba, Haiti or Jamaica, for example, some slaves worked in the coffee or sugar cane plantations, while others took care of many domestic tasks for the members of high society, including cooking.
Indeed, it was when the islands were under French, English or Portuguese influence that the slaves learned to cook typical European dishes. By introducing local products, while working with products imported from Africa, they ended up developing their own culinary identity.
Jean-Philippe Vézina, also born in Haiti, makes it his duty to “make people understand the contribution of Africans to modern culinary culture while highlighting Afro-Caribbean culinary traditions” with his vegetable farm located in Dunham, in the Eastern Townships.
Signature dishes, local foods
Each Caribbean country has its favorite dish, its favorite spices and, above all, its degree of spiciness.
Paul Toussaint, who likes to draw on recipes from all the islands to revisit them in his own way, explains the differences between Caribbean cuisines as follows: “With dishes from Jamaica, we expect a lot of taste. The people there are big on cloves and cook great curries. Cuban and Dominican dishes are milder. In Cuba, cilantro and lime are used a lot, and people are particularly fond of rice dishes. Haitian, Martinican and Guadeloupean cuisines were strongly influenced by the French occupation and have African roots. The flavors are more assertive and there are a lot of grilled meats. »
For newcomers, learning to cook their family recipes with local products is a great way to make the transition between their two worlds. Food is essential for integration. It’s comforting to seek out familiar flavors. The food allows us to have something to share with our new acquaintances.
According to Lindsay Brun, what it takes to cook Creole is a good recipe for epis, “a paste made up of spices, such as parsley, coriander, thyme, but also onion, garlic, shallots, peppers, with oil, salt, pepper and habanero peppers. We put it everywhere. It’s perfect for seasoning meat, like chicken or beef, or shrimp. I love to put it in a mushroom stew,” she explains.
Even though it’s fairly easy to get exotic foods in Montreal, both in big-box grocery stores and in smaller specialty stores, the three people interviewed here agree that it’s not only easy to “locavorize” Creole recipes, that it is also a logical and responsible choice.
Moreover, Paul Toussaint admits that he does not work specifically with exotic products, that he always favors what is found here, in Quebec: “What I often do is that I take a product from ‘here, like potato, trout or Cornish hen, and I work it with Caribbean spices. »
For him, it is important to use products from here, in order to encourage local producers. “They make such great products. All I do is show them off,” says the chef.
He also notes that in Quebec, we have a culture of responsible meat production, which we don’t often see elsewhere. This makes it a very high quality product that he likes to put on his menus.
For her part, Lindsay Brun loves using local squash (in a delicious “Haitian sweet potato bread” cake, for example) or replacing amaranth leaves with Quebec spinach in a traditional lalo recipe.
Jean-Philippe Vézina, for his part, recently discovered plants native to Quebec, such as monarda (which he adds to a papaya salad), elderberry (which he likes to add to lemonade, reminiscent of the delicious infusion of hibiscus popular in the Caribbean), as well as echinacea.
With Les Jardins Lakou, he is able to offer certain products typical of the Caribbean and the West Indies, but produced here, in Quebec. “I am able to grow okra, amaranth, peppers, squash, spinach and eggplant, among other products that are used a lot in Caribbean cuisine. To these are added fruits and vegetables from the Quebec region and found in traditional Caribbean dishes, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, thyme and parsley, as well as berries.