Interviews

Beef Patties

When you are asked where you are from, what do you reply? Why do you reply this way?
Audrie Hall: Jamaica. I reply this way because this is where I was born.
Victoria Wheeling: I am from Nevis and St. Kitts, a small island in the Caribbean. I reply
this way since most people always asks me where it is.

What kind of food would you say is your favorite type of food?

Audrie Hall: Spicy food from the West Indies, Thailand, or Mexico. At home we use a lot of spice because we grow lots of spice. The spices include Scotch Bonnet, jalapenos, and chili peppers.
Victoria: I do not have a favorite kind of food. I eat most kinds of food and like to try
different things.

At home do you speak English or a language associated with your country? If you do
speak another language what is the name of that language?

Audrie: I speak English and a dialect called Patios. Patios is broken English.
Victoria: I speak English and there is no other language besides English in Nevis and
St. Kitts.

Who does the cooking in your family? Typically among your community in St. Kitts
and Nevis?

Audrie and Victoria: The woman/ mother does the cooking in the family.

How is the dinner table or area set up?

Audrie and Victoria: The table is set up with the man/father at the head of the table. The plate is in the middle with the fork on the left and the knife on the right. The father/man was served first.  We eat in the dining room which is next to the kitchen.

Where is the food set up? Please describe in detail your typical meals.

Victoris and Audrie: The food is in the kitchen and the woman served the man and the kids. Food was served by one of the woman in the house.

Oxtail and beans with rice

What are some of the dishes you eat for Breakfast, Lunch and dinner?

Audrie and Victoria: Breakfast is a big meal because we needed our energy to work.
Audrie: Breakfast-Liver and Bananas or, Calaloo (a vegetable like spinach) and saltfish or, Ackee and saltfish (Jamaican national dish), cooked green bananas and yellow yams, or breadfruit, or a mix of tropical fruit.
Victoria: Breakfast- Eggs and Corn Meal (porridge), or breadfruit, or a mix of tropical fruit
Audrie:  Lunch- Bun (a sweet roll or cake) with cheese, or beef patties, or soup,
Victoria: Lunch- Bun (a sweet roll or cake) with cheese

Brown stewed chicken with rice

Audrie: Dinner- curried goat or chicken with white rice, or oxtail and beans with rice and peas, or stewed peas with white rice, brown stewed chicken with rice and peas, jerk pork or chicken, beef or red pea soup, or cow foot and beans, or red snapper fish.
Dessert-ice cream and cake
Victoria: Dinner- Lamb, or goat, or pork, or ham, or fresh fish, or Conch, or lobster,
peas and rice, or vegetables locally grown like chickpeas and lima beans, or cow foot soup
Dessert- ice cream and cake, guinep, coconut, mango

Guinep

Audrie and Victoria: Drinks- coco, coconut water, all kinds of tea, sorrel, ginger beer.

Do you or your parents make this dish the way it is made in your country?

Audrie and Victoria: Yes

When you eat food from your country, does it feel like an everyday occurrence or is
it a rare occurrence?

Audrie: It’s an everyday occurrence because it reminds me of home and my culture. Eating the food from home is satisfying and comforting.
Victoria: We eat it every once in a while because it reminds me of home and my culture. Eating the food from home is satisfying and comforting.

If you or your parents cook, when you go to your country, do you still cook the same
way you cook here?

Audrie: No, we use fresh local indigents and more authentic methods.
Victoria: Yes we make food the same way like we do at home.

Are there any small changes made to the dishes that are made?

Victoria and Audrie: No

Do you eat together as a family?

Audrie and Victoria: Yes

According to you, what is the proper way to have a meal? Describe a proper meal.
Audrie and Victoria: All the family members are seated around the table. Grace is said before the start of the meal and dessert is served at the end of the meal.

In your opinion, do you think the food you eat at home helps you identify as you do?
Audrie and Victoria: Yes

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