English | Jamaican
As a chef, food and cuisine play a huge part in my life and it is a great representation of how my parents combined cultures. The great British institution that is the Sunday Roast would often feature rice and peas or jerk chicken alongside the usual roast potatoes and gravy. Interestingly, as my Dad can't cook to save his life, it fell to my Mum to carry on the traditional Jamaican cuisine in our family after Granny died. Through recipes that she picked up from my Granny or from some of the West Indian foster carers she worked with Mum is now a highly proficient Jamaican cook.
When my parents got together I think my Dad's Mum made life very hard for my Mother. She had a very traditional West Indian outlook and was in no way ready to accept an interracial relationship. I'm sure this is a narrative that you hear from a lot of the people you talk to. But, in showing an interest in the culture and in being a loving partner to my Dad and devoted Mother to my brother and I, my Mum was able to completely win over my Grandma. She became a daughter to my Mum and I would hope that changed my Granny's attitude to interracial couples.
Where the attitudes may have improved I think the pressures within families persists. I have had my own experiences of having been treated in a racist fashion by some members of a Vietnamese ex-girlfriend’s family. That was incredibly hard to process having been bought up in an interracial home myself. But I reasoned that if my Mother had to toil for acceptance and change an opinion then I should do the same too. I was determined that my race should not be a factor in my relationship.
Within my industry I would say that Black chefs are few and far between and even then it is only ever for cooking traditional French fine dining. I would love to see a Black Caribbean chef achieve success and notoriety cooking food that honours their heritage, because I think it is one of the most undervalued cuisines in the world. But I’m not sure that is my story to tell.
Sign up to Patreon or Subscribe to our website to read more