Curry: The Flavor of Island Living

In Zadie Smith’s novel White Teeth, Clara, a Jamaican living in London, expresses her thoughts to her husband, saying, “You mentioned the Iqbals are joining us for dinner. I was just considering… if they expect me to whip up some curry — I mean, I can certainly make curry — but it’s the way I prepare it.”

Clara fears that the Iqbals, who are of Bangladeshi descent, might find her Caribbean-style curry to be entirely different from what they are accustomed to in Southeast Asian cuisine.

Curry is a broad term used to describe a dish of fish or meat simmered with a blend of bold spices. Although the Caribbean and Southeast Asian versions share similarities, each boasts its own distinct taste.

Christopher Columbus plays a key role in this connection: Over 500 years ago, while searching for new trade routes to India, he inadvertently discovered the islands of the West Indies and the chili peppers that are essential to curry. Columbus took these native Caribbean chilies — known as Scotch bonnet, Congo, habanero, or bird peppers, depending on the island’s culture — to India and China, where they were embraced and integrated into local cuisines.

Ironically, around 200 years later, when Indian and Chinese migrants began settling on various Caribbean islands, they brought their chili peppers along. This introduction led the islanders to curry, which, in addition to chili peppers, sometimes includes ginger — a root that has thrived in the Jamaican climate to the extent that it could be considered a native crop. You can find ginger available in markets in its natural root form, crystallized, or ground into powder.

The Indian way of making curry became widely accepted, to the point that in Jamaica, curry goat is nearly regarded as a national dish. Ultimately, the primary distinction between Jamaican and Indian curry lies in the use of allspice, or pimento, a dried berry that originates from Jamaica and has a flavor reminiscent of a blend of nutmeg, cinnamon, and cloves.

Similarly, Scotch bonnet chilies and allspice berries are key components of Jamaica’s celebrated jerk seasoning, which consists of a mix of up to 20 different spices.