| The Arawak, Carib, and Taino Indians were the first | | | | ingredients. The Carib had a big impact on early |
| inhabitants of the Caribbean islands. These first | | | | Caribbean history, and the Caribbean sea was named |
| inhabitants occupied the present day islands of British | | | | after this tribe.Then the Caribbean became a |
| Virgin Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Trinidad, | | | | crossroads for the world . . .Once the Europeans |
| and Jamaica. Their daily diet consisted of vegetables | | | | brought Africans slaves into the region, the slaves diet |
| and fruits such as papaw, yams, guavas, and cassava. | | | | consisted mostly of food the slave owners did not |
| The Taino started the process of cooking meat and | | | | want to eat. So the slaves had to be inventive, and |
| fish in large clay pots.The Arawaks are the first people | | | | they blended their traditional African foods with staples |
| known to make a grate of thin green wood strips on | | | | found on the islands. The Africans introduced okra, |
| which they slowly cooked meat, allowing it to be | | | | callaloo, fish cakes, saltfish, ackee, pudding and souse, |
| enhanced by the flavor of the wood. This grate was | | | | mangos, and the list goes on.Most present day |
| called a barbacoa, and the word we know today as | | | | Caribbean island locals eat a present diet that is |
| barbeque is taken from this early Indian cooking | | | | reflective of the main ingredients of original early |
| method.The Carib Indians added more spice to their | | | | African dishes, and includes cassava, sweet potatoes, |
| food with hot pepper sauces, and also added lemon | | | | yams, plantains, bananas and corn meal.African men |
| and lime juice to their meat and fish recipes. The | | | | were hunters in their homeland, and often away from |
| Caribs are said to have made the first pepper pot | | | | home for long periods of time. They would cook spicy |
| stew. No recipes exist since every time the Indians | | | | pork over hot coals, and this tradition was refined by |
| made the dish, they would always add new | | | | the early slaves in Jamaica. |