To our surprise, we had a difficult time finding book suggestions for Barbados. It’s clear club members did as well since only one suggestion was sent in & that suggestion was for a book we already had decided to include. However, while we couldn’t find a huge number of books, we’re happy that all 6 we did manage to find had good reviews.
We’re also excited to include a book of short stories written in Caribbean-English, a localized non-standard form of English specific to each country of the Commonwealth Caribbean. As you can see below, this version of English is familiar enough that most English-speakers should be able to comprehend it, but the flavor & culture of the islands still shines through.
I hope you’re as excited as we are about this interesting inclusion, but before you begin looking at the Bajan (i.e., Barbadian) books, I wanted to share an interesting cookbook written by a chef who is focused on achieving better recognition for authentic, traditional Caribbean cuisine.
My favorite recipes included were the:
Salt Bread, a crave-worthy bread which I remembered from my time in Barbados & was thrilled to make myself
Bajan Great Cake, the most delicious dried fruit & dark rum cake I’ve ever had
Conkies, a corn-based delicacy which dates back to the 1700s made with coconut, pumpkin, & sweet potato
Have you ever tried Bajan food? It’s soul-satisfyingly good! If you do end up making one of the recipes, let me know in the Barbados book discussion.
Now onto the vote.
THE VOTING
We need to vote quickly in order to start reading on time so you can vote from now until Tues., Dec. 31 11PM ET. (That's NYC time. See this converted to your local time below.)
To participate:
1. Review the books.
2. Then, click here to vote.
We'll publish the anonymous results afterwards so you can get the book in advance.