Welcome to My Caribbean Kitchen!
My name’s Jerry and growing up in New York and a Haitian household, Caribbean food was never hard to come by. Whether it was going to different restaurants in Queens and Brooklyn or home-cooked meals from my grandmother, a meal from any island of my choosing was at my fingertips.
It wasn’t until I left New York to go to college that I realized how much of a culinary bubble I was living in. Caribbean food suddenly became hard to come by and I started to miss having my pick of the litter. Eventually, I decided to take matters into my own hands and began learning more about my favorite (and new) dishes from the region to recreate them.
Now I’ve always had a love for food. Whether it was baking in preschool or spending my afternoons with my high school’s culinary club, you could find me in a kitchen. But it wasn’t until I dove deep and immersed myself in the food of my and other cultures that I fell in love with what food could bring. It showed me how connected the islands of the Caribbean are, not only with each other, but with the rest of the world. It made me appreciate my culture more and what we bring to the table. It made me fall in love again with not only learning, but with teaching and sharing the lessons that have come with each dish. With MyCaribbeanKitchen, I wanted to use this blog as the documentation of my experiences working with different West Indian cuisines and flavors.
Whether it’s recreating traditional dishes or using them as inspiration for something entirely new, I hope you try and enjoy the recipes I share and come away with the same sparked curiosity I had back when I committed to this journey.
Happy cooking!