The British Invasion

The British introduced some of their cooking methods such as baking and broiling, so most of our dishes like baked chicken, baked ham, baked beans and even our baked pies like Shepard's pie originated from Britain we have to thank the British for introducing to us. A little history before I continue. The British captured Trinidad in 1799 and negotiated an amicable treaty of rule with the Spanish, then enslaved Africans who were brought into work in the sugar plantations in 1802 and the island become a colony. After slavery was abolished Britain landowners imported thousands of indentured laborers from India, China and the Middle East. In 1889 Britain joined the smaller island Tobago as part of its administration. The islands achieved Independence from England in 1962 and became the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in 1976.


We would be celebrating Christmas in a couple of months and we are definitely looking forward to those delicious foods like pastelles and black cake believe or not the British were the first to introduce Christmas pudding, which we call black cake. In England, Christmas pudding also known as plum pudding is commonly served on Christmas day and goes back to medieval times. The pudding is from dried fruits and eggs and is flavored with different spices , it also has alcohol and can be preserved for months without being refrigerated.That's how we know to put alcohol in our fruit cake so it would stay longer.