Pig Tails 'N Breadfruit: A Culinary Memoir by Austin Clarke
8vo. pp. 248. hardcover. dw. (fine condition). New York: The New Press, [1999].
ISBN-10: 1565845803 / ISBN-13: 9781565845800
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Clarke is one of the preeminent Caribbean writers of our time. Here, he has created a tantalizing “culinary memoir” of his childhood in Barbados. He describes how he learned traditional Bajan cooking -- food with origins in the days of slavery, hardship, and economic grief -- by listening to his mother, aunts, and cousins talking in the kitchen as they prepared each meal. This is not a recipe book; rather, each chapter is devoted to a detailed description of the ritual surrounding the preparation of a particular native dish -- Oxtails with Mushrooms, Smoked Ham Hocks with Lima Beans, or Breadfruit Cou-Cou with Braising Beef. Cooking here is based not on precise measurements, but on trial and error, taste and touch.