There are clusters of ethnicities in every city. Immigrants, encouraged by pioneers find a home within many urban centers in close proximity to others from their shared homelands. Chinatowns are the most obvious examples of them. Oftentimes when things turned threatening in ones home country people … wanting better for themselves and even more importantly for their children search for a new place to find their dream. Layers of immigration are what give us our mosaic of the most delicious diversities. Even within a few blocks … a burgeoning populace can be marvelously illustrated. The old country’s roots remain but are now entwined with the new one. The past and the present … woven together. Over time … the future becomes a new being as it assimilates. Sometimes that assimilation brings pain as identities are challenged. But I find that it is often within these hyphenated times where the old and new are creating the most compelling food fusions.
The other day my wife, Janet and I returned to a shop we have been going to off and on for many years. I was relieved to see it was still in business. One thing I noticed this time was the other businesses in the same strip mall featured more iterations of what we came for; Caribbean food. Jamaican food was well represented there I noted. I had my sights … and my belly set specifically on roti bread as done by a West Indian born woman who goes by the moniker, “L.C.”
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Now it’s time to hit the ‘Listen on WLRN’ button at the top to hear the remainder of my show. ‘A Word On Food’ airs on WLRN every Saturday around 8:30 a.m. at 91.3 and also 91.5 on the radio. I want to thank so many of you who tell me in person how much you are enjoying the show! Please check out my Instagram photos and my new IG TV cooking videos @normanvanaken