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The first
Caribbean civilizations were established by Amer-Indians from what
are present-day Venezuela and the Guianas. These were the Carib and
Arawak Indians. The Arawaks, a gentle and placid people, were cruelly
exploited by the European newcomers and nearly exterminated within a
few generations. The Caribs, on the other hand, were more belligerent
and seasoned warriors. They took on the Spanish, French, and English
and fought longer than any other Indian tribe including the Apaches
of the American Southwest, before eventually being reduced to a small
number of scattered groups. Unfortunately, much of the original
Amer-Indian cuisine these people ate, with the exception of a few
dishes prepared with indigenous fruits and vegetables, has not
survived to modern times.
Ironically, it
was knowledge of the local fruits and vegetables gained from the
Indians that sustained the early European settlers for the first
several years. Even though this first influence, at first glance,
seems to have been a primitive one, it had some lasting effects. Many
of these Indians were farmers of sorts and raised starchy roots like
cassava from which they made bread. They also cultivated sweet
potatoes and arrowroot, which produces a nutritive starch that is one
of the easiest for humans to digest.
There is also
one cooking legacy for which every backyard chef owes these early
settlers a profound salute. The word barbecue comes from a grate made
of thin green sticks, called a barbacoa, upon which the Arawaks
grilled meat over an open fire. On the barbacoa thin strips of meat
were cooked slowly, exposing them to the smoke from the fire below.
Slow cooking allowed the meat to be constantly enhanced with its own
fat. The whole process gave the meat a flavour that few are
unfamiliar with today.
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