About

Pepperpot: an Amerindian-derived Guyanese stewed meat dish, flavoured with cinnamon, cassareep and other local ingredients, including Caribbean hot peppers.

I grew up in London but my family has its roots in the Caribbean (Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados). And, like many Caribbean peoples, we’ve been spiced by China, India, Africa, South America and Europe and the food we make reflects this diversity. Growing up, we ate meals cooked by the elders of the family and, as we got older, wanted to replicate those dishes from our childhood in our own kitchens so the aromas of home could fill up new spaces.

Today, we have family members across three continents – America, Canada, Australia and the UK, each taking tasty pieces of the Caribbean with them and mixing these with local flavours and influences. Many also remained in the Caribbean, continually re-invigorating the flavours of our roots.

As the first generation of migrants enter their golden years, we wanted to make sure these recipes don’t get forgotten, and also to be able to exchange them with other family members across great distances. My girlfriend and I began with the idea of creating a family cookbook, but we thought, in the spirit of Caribbean culture itself, why not make it one that is always evolving and can be read and added to from all over the world, growing like the family itself. And, like most Caribbean families, this ‘family’ extends beyond blood relations to include all those ‘aunties’, ‘uncles’ and ‘cousins’ that have contributed to our foodie lives.

Of course, many of these ‘recipes’ did not begin as recipes as such. Like most great home-cooking, they come together with ‘a pinch’ of this and ‘a handful’ of that, with those experienced in making them just ‘knowing’ when they’re right. A bit of a challenge for us younger-types who just want things to be neatly laid out for us. So we’ve done our best to get the measurements as specific as possible, even following uncles and grannies around the kitchen, weighing and measuring their eyeballed quantities as they go (though, we’re still convinced they sneak in a secret ingredient when we’re not looking, because ours never tastes quite as good as the ones they make for us!).

We’re bonded by blood, divided by geography, but connected through food. We hope you enjoy!