Growing up, the main way my family practiced our Haitian culture was through food. My mother cooked every day after work except on Fridays. She worked a double, so my dad got us pizza from Costco. I loved Fridays. As a young Haitian-American child, I did not appreciate eating Haitian food almost every night of the week. I was jealous of my other classmates who had Mac n’ Cheese Mondays, or Taco Tuesdays or ate out on Thursdays. I wanted that. I wanted to eat box macaroni and smother ketchup on it. Trust me, at the time it tasted really good with ketchup. But I didn’t eat it often because we always had some sort of rice, a difference color bean, and meat. Every. Single. Night. Or at least that was the case when we still lived in New Jersey with my Grandmother.
After moving to Pennsylvania, my mom starting working different shifts so she didn’t have the time to make Haitian food every night. We continued Pizza Fridays for a few years and started integrating American dinners into our daily dinner specials. My mom’s favorite to make was spaghetti. It was quick to make and tasted great with hotdogs and ketchup. If we were feeling fancy we would have marinara and frozen meatballs. Yum! The more American meals we ate, the more I missed eating some sort of rice, a difference color bean, and meat. I appreciated the Haitian meals more and more.
As a young Haitian-American ADULT (adolescent?), I appreciate and often times crave rice and beans. Put the best thing about Haitian food is that it is not just breakfast that is amazing like American meals. Lunch and dinner are amazing too. And you can’t forget those mid-day and midnight snacks. Here are some of my favorites:
Breakfast:
Boiled bannann (plantains), eggs, and avocados
Leftover spaghetti and sausage (or hotdogs)
It is not any special Haitian spaghetti, we just like the noodles. lol
Lunch: Lunch and dinner meals are very versatile.
Griot (Pork), fried bannann, side salad, and pikliz (Spicy Coleslaw)
Dinner:
Here is a selection of different kinds of rice, with different beans, and meats. We Haitians don’t live dry meals. We always have some sort of sauce with our rice or meat. Like other cultures we have gravy, but our gravy is not made from drippings of meat, it is made from smashed up beans. It takes better than it sounds. The gravy goes on top, or if you prefer to the side, of the rice. Commonly eaten with rice and meat is what we call sauce. A very creative name for the tomato-based liquid meat is cooked in. We also have something called Legume. Legume is a vegetable-meat mix served over rice. They are primarily cabbage or spinach based. Below are some pictures to make your mouth water.
Snacks:
Labouyi Bannann (Plantain Porridge)
Labouyi Farin (Flour Porridge)
Haitian Patties (Meat Pies)
Now that I am in college, I have been craving Haitian cooking more than anything. I wish I appreciated my mom’s cooking when I was younger. Mac n’ cheese every day from City Grill just does not compete. All I can say is, I cannot wait to go back home for Thanksgiving and each rice and beans.
Before I sign off, check out this video of Americans trying some of the foods I mentioned in my blog post.
http://https://youtu.be/Nk2iuYy2neU
Zanmi Orevwa!
The food in the post really did make my mouth water! It is so interesting to learn about the different foods in different cultures, especially because it makes you realize how the United States may be a melting pot, but it does not always expose citizens to all the different types of foods in the world. I like how you included the video in your post, it makes your blog much more relatable and personal!
Wow this sounds amazing right now! Haitian food reminds me of what I eat at home too! My family is from India so my mom always loves to make lentils, veggies, and different meat dishes, which seems to mimic the Haitian diet as well. When you were younger, did you eat these types of food for every meal or was it more so concentrated toward dinner foods? I thought your use of imagery was very effective because seeing the food gives what you are describing some context and makes you description even more appetizing. Additionally, I really liked how you brought in different things that you ate that were American because it helped show the viewer that you are not bias to that culture and that you have experienced all types of food cultures.
Thanks for the funny video to tie it all together!
Arwa Hararwala
Food is such an important part of culture. I was able to relate a lot to this post because I feel like I went through the same experience when I moved from Mexico. I wanted to eat more pizza when I was living in Mexico, but when I moved to the U.S. and stopped eating Mexican dishes on a regular basis I found myself craving them. Awesome pictures and the video at the end was a great addition!
im Haitian to and i know what you mean when you stop eating something from your childhood you start to miss it . i remember eating pizza for the first time i never wanted to eat anthing but pizza . i have a question did your mom make weekday meals or just day meals and also i grre up in usa but ive been to hatit once