The Spice Island: Grenada

Hema and Mireille delve into the rich history and cuisine of Grenada. In this episode they talk about the Arawak population, the colonization of the island, the national dish 'oil down', and the country’s spices such as nutmeg and cinnamon.

Resources

https://www.grenadaarchaeology.com/TeacherKits/Assets/Lessons%20HTML/13_FieldTripGuide_LeapersHill.htm

https://www.youtube.com/@RoyVincent

https://www.britannica.com/place/Grenada/Transportation

https://www.britannica.com/event/U-S-invasion-of-Grenada

https://nacla.org/remembering-us-invasion-grenada-40-years

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Grenada

https://around.uoregon.edu/content/researchers-denounce-revived-theory-caribbean-cannibalism

https://www.insandoutsgrenada.com/articles/historical-landscape-story-of-grenada

https://www.puregrenada.com/

https://www.thecollector.com/us-invasion-of-grenada/

Angel (Caribbean Modern Classics) - Merle Collins

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/19/obituaries/louise-little-overlooked.html

https://www.worldfoodtravel.org/grenada-the-spice-of-the-caribbean-named-worlds-first-culinary-capital

https://spicemasgrenada.com/

https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/nutmeg/reporter/grd

Recipes

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/09/11/493157111/this-hearty-stew-is-a-one-pot-lesson-in-grenadas-history

Oil Down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf88ZONGy9Y 

Transcript

Hema: Hi Mireille

Mireille: Hey Hema. How are you today?

Hema: We are back with another episode of The Moreish Podcast. We ended last week with a little hint and we said this is a tri-island country. So what are we talking about today?

Mireille: We're talking about Grenada. We're switching it up today. 

Hema: You've heard me talk about history for the last several episodes, and today Mireille is gonna be talking all about the history of Grenada and I will be talking about the food.

Mireille:. Grenada is an island in the lesser Antilles. It's about a hundred miles north of Venezuela, closest to Trinidad as well as St. Vincent and the Grenadines. It's about 121 square miles, the second smallest independent country in the Western hemisphere. Although Grenada is the largest island, the smaller Grenadines also consist of several islands with the largest islands being Caricou and Petite Martinique. And that's what Hema referenced when she said tri island is Grenada Caricou and Petite Martinique. 

Columbus first saw the island on August 15th, 14th, 98, but he didn't make landfall then. Now he supposedly gave it the name Concepcion. However, the original Arawak name is Camerhogne, but the Spanish later renamed it La Granada after the Spanish City in Spain, Granada. 

Before we get to the colonizers, let's first learn about the original inhabitants. Archeologists have proof that people were in Grenada from as far back as 300 ad. It was these indigenous people that brought crops like cassava, sweet potato, arrowroot as well as fruits like guava, mamey apple, sapodilla, and soursop. They came from Venezuela. In approximately 1000 AD the Siboney people also arrived from Venezuela, and they were joined 10 years later by the Arawaks. Now they lived pretty peacefully together, the Siboney people and the Arawaks. Until the Kallingao arrived from the Guyanas, they killed all the men, all the men. But they didn't kill the women. In 1608 was the first time a British ship arrived, but the Kallingao fought them, and only 12 survived to return to England. 

When the British returned to England, they reported that the Kallinago were cannibals and that is actually where the word Carib comes from. However, there is no archeological proof that suggests the validity of this. The Kalinago on Grenada were pretty much left alone until 1649. When the French arrived in 1649, there are some reports that say, initially they were welcomed by the Kallinago. However, the French soon started battling with them. Now due to these battles and European diseases like yellow fever, the Kallinago population was decimated By 1650 there were about 40 left and the French had managed to corner them on the northern part of the island. But rather than surrender to the French, they said, Uhuh, They jumped off the cliff to their death, into the raging ocean below on May 30th, 1650. This spot is known as Le Morne des Sauterus or Leapers Hill.

 With the eradication of the Kalinago, the settlers needed laborers, so they relied on white indentured servants from Europe and also a small quantity of black slaves from Senegambia - what today are the countries of Senegal and Gambia. While some came directly from West Africa, many of them were transported from neighboring Caribbean islands, particularly Martinique and Guadeloupe. By 1700, the population was 257 whites, 53 colored, and 525 slaves. 

Now in the 1760s, the island went to British rule with the defeat of the French and the French and Indian wars. In 1779, the French retook the island during the American Revolution. With the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, the British gained control of the island from the French. One thing I'll note here that not only Grenada, but many islands of this region, St. Lucia, St. Vincent Dominica, they went back and forth with the French and the English, and that is why many of them speak a French-based Creole language in addition to English. It's important to note though, that under French rule. The free colored or mulattos of mixed heritage had practically the same rights as whites. They could own land, they could vote, they could even hold public office. However, when the British took over, the rights would slowly be stripped away until they had little more than the enslaved people, even though they were free. With the British, many more indentured servants were also brought from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales. These indentured servants consisted of men of their own free will, wanting to start a new life. Have a little bit of adventure as well as many debtors and destitute who didn't exactly come there of their free will, and there was a very small quantity that were also kidnapped to be brought there. The indentured servants worked six days a week from 6AM to 6PM with a break for lunch. They were fed a horrible gruel that seldom included meat, and their contracts could be anywhere from 3-10 years. As horrible as these conditions were, they were still better than what the enslaved had. And so the enslaved people had a lot of animosity towards them because of the contracts that they had where there was an end that they had in sight. There was no end in sight for victims of chattel slavery. 

Although some returned, many indentured servants stayed and worked as overseers and formed small white communities. However, there was a high mortality rate due to the heat that they were not accustomed to and diseases like malaria and most of the owners had concluded that this was not a lucrative business model. This is when mass slavery importation began. Most of the slaves arriving in Grenada came from Nigeria, particularly the Igbo and Yoruba tribes and Southern Ghana, particularly the Fante people. Smaller numbers came from Sierra Leone, Guinea, Benin. Congo, Angola and the Central African Republic. I'm not going to repeat the horrible conditions of the ships and the seasoning period. We've already discussed that in previous episodes. The main crops that were being, farmed at this time were tobacco, cocoa, coffee, and sugar with sugar being the primary crop. 

 By the mid 17 hundreds, there were 87 sugar plantations on Grenada, Caricou and Petite Martinique, totaling about 32,000 acres rivaling the much larger islands of Jamaica and Barbados. There were also 700 acres in cocoa as well as 13,000 acres in coffee. It was also at this time that spice production began in Grenada. With its rich soil and warm weather, the conditions were ideal, and it was a lot closer to Great Britain than the Dutch East Indies. This started the history of its nomenclature as The Spice Isle. 

We're gonna jump quite a bit ahead to the Fedon Rebellion in 1795. Many people mistakenly believed this was a rebellion to win freedom for the enslaved. However, it was really a class struggle. The French and the coloreds - people of mixed race became frustrated with their rights being stripped under British rule, and they're not being able to freely practice their Roman Catholic faith. Pierre Fedon was married to a former slave, therefore, his children were colored. The rebellion was started to win rights for the colored. In fact, Fedon owned many slaves who he only gave them their freedom the night before the rebellion, so they would fight alongside him. On March 2nd, 1795, Fedon Rebels launched an attack in present day Grenville in St. Andrew's parish. It was very vicious. Many people were massacred with cutlasses. Simultaneously, a corresponding rebellion took place in St. John's Parish in Charlottetown. In total, 51 hostages were taken.

Hema: Mireille, you mentioned a cutlass. In case people don't know what that is, can you explain?

Mireille: Okay, so a cutlass is like a big knife or a small sword depending how you look at it. 

Hema: It’s very close to a machete.

Mireille: Yes. A machete is synonymous to a cutlass.

On April 8th, 1795, a failed attempt to rescue the hostages by the British resulted in 48 of the 51 being shot to death. From March, 1795 to June, 1796, Fedon’s rebels had control of most of the island except for St. John's Parish. By June, 1796, the British had managed to capture Post Royal and Pilot Hill cutting off supplies to the rebels. It would take an additional 15 months for the British to capture all of the rebels, many of whom went into hiding in the mountains. In total, 50 rebels were captured, 35 were found guilty of treason and executed in what is today the open air market in St. George's Parish. Their heads were put on display to deter any further rebellions. Fedon was never caught.

By the early 1800’s,  sugar cane production had started to decline. This coupled with a growing abolitionist movement in England saw the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which outlawed international trading of slaves. Then came the passing of the Slavery Abolitionist Act in 1833. Full compliance would not go into effect until August 1st, 1834, and then only for those under the age of six. A slow rollout began for those over the age of six until full freedom was finally achieved on August 1st, 1840. They were free, but they had no means to support themselves. So many continued to work in the same plantations, but some started to demand more rights and began subsistence farming. So again, they needed people for labor. Now they went to India for indentured servants to replace the loss of labor.

By 1885, over 3000 indentured servants had arrived from India, mostly from the states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in Northern India. While some went back after the three to five years of servitude had concluded, about 85% stayed in Grenada. By 1917, the practice of indentured servitude ended with the rising feelings of independence that India was starting to work towards. Let's jump ahead to 1951, which saw the labor movement, which fought and won basic workers' rights for agricultural workers. This period of 1950 to 1951 is often called Sky Red because many buildings would be set on fire during this fight. Independence would finally be achieved in 1974 under Sir Eric Matthew Gairy’s leadership. Now, although they are independent to this day, King Charles still remains the head of state for Grenada,

Gairy became increasingly authoritative, which caused a coup d’etat to occur by the Marxist leader, Maurice Bishop, and the New Jewel Movement in March, 1979. He immediately suspended the Constitution and his revolutionary government took control. Now his close association with Cuba and refusal to allow any elections made his neighbors like Trinidad and Dominica as well as the United States a bit wary. Many workers had been brought in from Cuba to supposedly build an airport. A power struggle began between Bishop and the leftist groups, particularly the Co-founder of the New Jewel Movement and a faction of the People's Revolutionary Government. This led to another coup on October 19th, 1983 in which Bishop was executed. With this execution, brought a very pro-Soviet Pro Cuban government into power under leadership of General Hudson Austin. There were 50 Cuban advisors and over 700 armed Cuban construction workers on the island at the time. 

At the behest of Dominic's Prime Minister Eugenia Charles who I happen to be related to and other Caribbean islands, Ronald Reagan and the United States invaded Grenada. Six days later, on October 25th, 1983, 7,000 troops were sent under Operation Urgent Fury. Most Americans supported the invasion as it was promoted that it was being done to protect American students at St. George's University. However, the invasion of a sovereign country was looked at negatively by many others, particularly Trinidad, who had not been consulted beforehand, as well as Canada and Great Britain. Also, many people feel that there was little threat to the US students, but this was really President Reagan wanting to garner a win against communist Cuba and show military force. Indeed, the students remained in Grenada several weeks after the invasion and many really did not want to leave. The US reinstated the 1979 Constitution and an American backed interim government was put in place under the leadership of Nicholas Brathwaite. Conservative. Herbert Blaze won the 1984 General elections. 

Grenadians are about 80% African descent, 12% East Indian with the remaining 8% being mixed or European descent.

English is the official language, but most people also speak Grenadian Creole, a dialect of French-based patois, which are common in islands that have been colonized by the French like St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica, Martinique, and Guadeloupe  To sum up Grenadian history and culture, I'd like to read a paragraph from an article written by John Angus Martin.

That society is realised in the Creole amalgam seen today, and celebrated across Grenada, in its villages and its towns, along its coasts and in its valleys, in its streets and in its parks, in its English language littered with French Creole words, in the diversity of indigenous, French and British place names, in its parliamentary democracy with the British monarch as head of state, in its carnival with masquerades like Jab-Jab, Shortknee and Veko, in its religious celebrations of All Saints Day, in its Big Drum dance in Carriacou, in the telling of Ananci Stories, or tales of malevolent spirits like Mama Glo and Sukuyant, in its foods like coucou, oil down, callaloo soup, and pelau, and in its rum punch sprinkled with nutmeg. These have all come together to create our Grenadian landscape and our island identity, that we are so proud to share with the world.

I just love that. To me, it's so poignant and so emotional. 

Hema: We are about to dive into this section of food and talk about the national dish, but Grenada is full of so much deliciousness that I did wanna share a few little bites before I talk about the national dish.

As you mentioned, Grenada is known as the spice of the Caribbean. Some people say the Spice Island or the Spice Isle of the Caribbean, but it is known for spices. And while tourism is a big industry in Grenada, it's also known as an agricultural society exporting a variety of spices, fruits, vegetables and cocoa.

I'm gonna talk a little bit about nutmeg. It was first introduced to Grenada in the late 1700’s by the British, and while it was once the second largest world producer of nutmeg and mace behind Indonesia, it now has dropped down a little bit.

For anybody that doesn't know, mace is the outer covering of nutmeg. Nutmeg is the seed, the sort of fleshy, lacy, outer covering is mace. Both are used in culinary applications. 

 The nutmeg and the mace grown in Grenada versus Indonesia have a slightly different color. The taste - it's been described as citrus, cinnamon with a kick of black pepper. We could talk a lot more about nutmeg and other spices that would make this episode really long. What is important is both nutmeg and mace are used in a variety of sweet and savory dishes, herbal remedies, medicines, and so much more.

 If you are looking for a nutmeg or you plan on using nutmeg. My recommendation is get the whole seed and grate it yourself because it is much more flavorful and lasts longer. If all you can find is already ground nutmeg, that will work. It's just not going to have the same, potency as grating it yourself.

Mireille: 100% agree.

Hema: Grenada is also a significant producer of cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Spices are so important, to Grenada that their carnival is known as Spicemas.

Hema: Spicemas is a 10 day celebration in August with many similar events as other Caribbean carnivals. J’Ouvert, masqueraders, music, mas bands, children's carnivals. Apparently the lime or the hangout on the night before J’Ouvert includes cooking one pot meals like Brown Down, Mannish Waters and the National Dish Oil Down. 

A few other culinary things to know about Grenada. In 2021, the World Food Association named Grenada, Caricou and Petite Martinique as the world's first culinary capital.

Cocoa was introduced to Grenada by the French in the 1700’s. They had fantastic conditions for growing cocoa or cacao. Volcanic soil, warm temperatures, lots of sunshine and thick treed canopied areas. And to this day, the Criollo and Trinitario varieties of cacao is grown in Grenada.

These varieties of cacao are common to the Caribbean and they produce what is known as fine or flavor cacao. If you visit Grenada in May, the Chocolate Fest is a must. You can visit the cocoa plantations. see the process of how they make their chocolate, learn the history of cocoa in the Caribbean, and of course taste as much as you would like.

In addition to oil down, which is the national dish, I mentioned two other dishes Brown Down and Mannish Waters. Very briefly, Brown Down has been described as Grenadian chicken and dumplings, and Manish Waters sort of a stew made with goat meat, maybe the goat head, root vegetables like yam and potatoes, flour dumplings, green bananas, and of course spices. Apparently, in some circles it's thought to have aphrodisiac effects for men. Whether it's true I don't know. Take it with a grain of salt.

Mireille: I've never knew it about Grenada, but Jamaicans make that a lot. It’s always made with goat head. And yes, I've also heard the aphrodisiac affects thing of it, 

Hema: We're gonna move on to the national dish, which is oil down. Much like the other two dishes that I mentioned, it is essentially a one pot stew like dish. In the times of slavery, one pot meals made with simple ingredients or what was considered scraps was often made.

You could find things like pig snouts, tails, breadfruit, or other starchy and filling ingredients included. And the dishes like oil down would be made when enslaved people got together so they could combine resources. Combine the ingredients that they had into one pot to make a tasty meal. That would also serve as a social time. 

Like many dishes in the Caribbean, how oil down is made is going to vary from family to family. You could add seafood like conchs or conch or crabs. You could make it vegetarian or you could substitute cuts of meat. The main ingredients, however, are breadfruit, some sort of meat, which could include salted beef, salted pork, iguana, chicken, pigtails. It could include saltfish.  You will have root vegetables like yam, greens, typically callaloo or dasheen,  green bananas, which you might hear in Grenada called fig. There will be flour dumplings, of course, spices, lots of seasonings, scotch bonnet, peppers, turmeric, and coconut milk,

All of the ingredients are cooked in one pot and much like a stew, everything is added at once. There is a process called packing the pot or layering the ingredients. The order in which the ingredients get layered into the pot can differ, but very commonly the bottom layer is the breadfruit, the very top layer is the callaloo leaves, and it all gets simmered in a broth of coconut milk, water, and turmeric. The name of the dish refers to the oil from the coconut milk and from the meat that settles in the bottom of the pot.

Mireille: Oil down, while it is Grenada's national dish, is common in many different Caribbean islands and some islands call it oil down and some islands call it run down. 

Hema: When we talk about the ingredients that go into this dish, I wanna mention the plethora of places and people that may have brought some of the ingredients to the island referencing back to some of the history that Mireille talked about. Breadfruit was introduced to the Caribbean in the late 1700’s by Captain William Bligh from the British Royal Navy. He brought breadfruit to the island because he wanted to grow it as a food to cheaply feed the enslaved people. It's a very carbohydrate rich and filling ingredient.

Callaloo or dasheen - the leafy green vegetable that we're talking about in this episode and that we've mentioned in other episodes is indigenous to the Caribbean. Bananas were brought to the Caribbean. From Asia by the Europeans, and then the turmeric, which is important in the dish to give it the color, was a product of the South Asian immigrants. As you can see, this dish really has its roots in the times of slavery. The ingredients are now local to Grenada, but they weren't always part of the agriculture. It's a dish that does take a fair bit of time to prepare and cook and is often made for community gatherings or special occasions.

As you can see throughout this episode, Grenada has a very rich history that is evident in the food. It's evident in the people and the history of the people. And that wraps up our episode on Grenada.

Mireille: Thanks for joining us this week as we explored Grenada on The, Moreish Podcast. 

Hema: Come back next week to find out which Caribbean nation we will be tackling next. Here's a little hint. The indigenous name means land of mountains. If you know what we're talking about or if you have a guess, head over to Instagram and leave us a comment and we will see you next week.

Mireille: Bye.