Alexis’ Story by Twinkle - Deep Boroughs
Alexis
0:00:00
We always had rice and peas, I mean that was always like... And when I was young I didn't like rice and peas actually, but I do now, because it's like special.
Twinkle
0:00:06
So that was your favorite, you say?
Alexis
0:00:08
Well, I don't know if it was favorite. When I was young I didn't like the peas, because I used to be scared of the peas, like when I was about five, because I used to think, what are they? Are they some sort of creature or something? So, but as I got older I realized how beneficial rice and peas are. You know, the peas and the rice stand out. The red, you know, red beans, kidney beans, I used to think, what are they in my food? But, so we had the traditional Caribbean cooking, which was always like rice, peas, I don't know, yam, dasheens, which are now, yams are given, they were stopped because they were very expensive to buy, like to buy yams and whatever. There is a specific place in Stratford Centre where they've been going for centuries. It's a market stall run by these East Ender English guys, white guys actually. And they sell yam and dasheen and they've been selling to Caribbean people from ages. And I remember when I was younger, we'd go to Stratford and then there was a particular stall that does it. And they're still there actually. They've been going, generations going. So that's quite an interesting story. And you buy your sort of yam, dasheen and green bananas from there. And, but my dad always also bought fish and chips on Fridays, every Friday as well. So we always looked forward to fish and chips on Fridays, where we had a Caribbean culture and food. Yeah, three quarters of the week. Then Friday, it was just fish and chips. It was, you know, that was your treat, yeah, different. And it was, you know, he'd do it when he'd come from work, so he'd bring the fish and chips in. So I suppose, and if we had roast dinner, the roast dinner was normal English roast, but Caribbean added. So it'd be English roast, and it'd have plantains, and it'd have proper meat as well, you know, as in curried meat or curried chicken or something. So it'd be a fusion of both English tradition and Dominican culture. Dominican Caribbean, because basically most Caribbean people have more or less the same food. Just a few variations, but more or less the same. But you're gonna laugh at our traditional dish. So traditional dish in Dominica is completely different. Really? Yeah, so traditional dish in England, as far as I know, is fish and chips and curry and chips or curry and rice, right, which is what English people like. Yeah. And we ate that as well. Yeah. But in Dominica, which I didn't eat, the traditional dish is called mountain chicken. And this mountain chicken is not actually a chicken, it's a frog. So you know, it's frogs. - Oh my. - So the French like the frogs as well, frogs legs. You know, the French, it's a delicacy. And the Caribbean island of Dominica adopted the frog. But the frog lives in the Caribbean, it's a frog. You know, special frogs. But it tastes like chicken.
Twinkle
0:03:10
You've had it?
Alexis
0:03:10
No, I never had it. I'm just like, sorry. I'm not eating that mountain chicken for anyone. Anyway, so this mountain chicken is a delicacy of Dominica. I don't think they eat it so much anymore, but that's what I know, mountain chicken.
All audio transcripts (10)
Hendrix’s Story by Lynette - Badu Digital Hub
Hendrix
0:00:00
Angolan Christmas menu so the main food that we eat everyone will eat is bacalhau with like bacalhau is I believe is salt fish I think if I'm wrong if I'm wrong but I don't want it to tarnish me in the future but um I believe it's saltfish though, um bacalhau with like boiled potatoes, like roast, and salads and you put vinegar on the, like balsamic vinegar on the fish and it's like oh, yeah it slaps. But apart from that we have arroj de pato which is duck rice, it's like some duck rice kind of thing that they have. They also have lamb there, they'll have lamb, they also just cook chicken, they also have baklava de natas, I don't even know how to explain that, it's the fish with like potatoes but they almost make it like a lasagne. Imagine like they use like the fish with the potatoes and they cover it like lasagne kind of thing. It's almost like yeah it's weird. I don't know how to explain it in English but um what else do we have then we'll have like prawns yeah the prawns um what else do we have? We have mussels, prawns nice and spicy.
0:01:41
and then there'll just be like cakes, pastries that they make uh... pastels de natas yeah, a lot of different pastries and whatnot, there's a bunch of different food so my mum enjoys cooking a lot like she just enjoys cooking anytime she's at home, that's like her hobby, she'll even bake a cake, she'll always be doing stuff in the kitchen. So my mom would do a lot, all the cooking all the time. What would she cook? My mom is very experimental, so she'll be trying a lot of different dishes. She likes to try, because she knows she can make Angolan food.
0:02:14
So I would say probably three out of the seven days she'll make Angolan food, but then the other four days or what, no, if my math's correct, yeah. She would try like experiment just make like Caribbean food make like I would say like West African food like jollof she would just try a bunch of different things and see if she's like capable of making it I'm not gonna lie she's competing with everyone else she's out there in her ranks so
Jagir’s Story by Suresh aka The Cockney Sikh - Solo Researcher (Part One)
Jagir
0:00:00
My children's favorite food was saag and curry. And on the weekend I make the paratha, like aloo paratha. I boil the aloo, like potato, sorry. And then I put some herbs in, like fennel and coriander, green chili, salt, pepper, and a bit of oil so I smash everything in the flour and make the like I call printed chapati but they are yummy paratha, children love it and I make the yogurt also every day every month I every time I make the own yogurt I never buy the yogurt whenever I don't need the yogurt I freeze some yogurt then when I need it, I just take that yogurt out and make my new fresh yogurt also. I still doing that yogurt. Everybody love my yogurt also.
0:00:59
And I do make, every week I make fresh chutney like mint, mango, coriander, chili, salt as your taste according. So I make lovely chutney. So I always keep the chutney in the house too and a saag yeah I always when I go to the sometime we go to the Green Street shopping so over there is very fresh things so I always bring the saag like mustard, fennel and other greens so very good to do the saag so children love when I'm picking the saag up and clean everything. But I know it's a bit hard work, but I love doing that because when you do things with love, you don't get tired. I'm still doing all these things.
Jagir’s Story by Suresh aka The Cockney Sikh - Solo Researcher (Part Two)
Jagir
0:00:00
I make sure the material like carrot, ginger, garlic, lemon and turmeric they all clean and totally dry. Then I put, I always use the mustard oil for my pickle. I put the mustard oil in the pan. Then I put pachranga masala then I add garlic first because garlic people like don't like garlic smell so it's bit I need to cook also a little bit more than other things then I put a ginger, chilli and then I put the carrot I don't want to put the carrot early because otherwise they can be smashed yeah, easily cook quickly then add everything so then add turmeric like turmeric then salt as much I need and then I just cook it about 5-7 minutes mix it very nicely then make sure I turn the heat off and leave it for cool down and while it's cooling down also I just do the couple times stirring as well so when it's very very properly cooled down and I put in the make sure the glass jar but glass jar need to be very very clean and dry no any water in it then I add the all pickle in it and then on the top of the pickle I add some of vinegar apple cider vinegar so then I leave it for three days, but I do shake them to make sure the pickle, I mean, apple cider vinegar goes everywhere. And after three days, my pickle is ready to start eating.
Suresh
0:01:51
And it's delicious.
Jagir
0:01:53
It is.
Suresh
0:01:54
So, yeah, could you also tell us about, you know, the mango chutney, you know, and my dad, you know, your father-in-law used to make that very beautifully and you've carried it on exactly like that. Can you just tell us step by step how that is made?
Jagir
0:02:13
Chutney is not hard but it's the preparation. You need all things to get together like mint, coriander, mango. Make sure you clean everything, you know sometimes mint got the sand in it, if you don't clean it then all hard work is gone, so make sure you clean first properly, then chop them finely like coriander, mint, spring onion, sometimes you don't have the spring onion then you have to put the other onion, otherwise spring onion is very good, and I got in my garden everything like spring onion and mint and tulsi which is very very good not many people have that also but I got so much thank you god and so I always put ginger in it garlic as well, I use fresh chili, I never bring like chili powder ever. I don't know how people can live with it. And I never see the packet actually, yeah. Always fresh chili. And then when everything blends properly, then you add the lemon, half a lemon, more bitter you need more lemon, but mango makes and lemon makes so nice but in that all ingredients I always make sultana is where was so which gives you so nice when you bite comes sultana comes into bite so nice taste, so my always green chili I mean green green chutney always in the house and it's very very healthy everybody love it nobody say no to my chutney.
Lara’s Story by Alexis - Deep Boroughs
Lara
0:00:00
My dad has installed the love of fish and chips into my life. My dad, when he used to take... So that's basically one of my happiest moments. My dad used to always buy us fish and chips. He loved... he loved the British fish and chips. That, for me, I feel like that's incorporated into my whole life and my whole being. Only because of my dad. He loved fish and chips. That was the only thing. It was like, fish and chips, fish and chips, all the time when we'd go out. So, for me, every time I smell fish and chips, it reminds me of my dad, he's not here anymore, you know, God rest his soul, but it just reminds me of my childhood. It brings me back to my childhood, and I now, you know, talk to my son and say, you know, my dad used to do this and whatever, and it was always just fish and chips, and there was a chip shop. My dad used to work in Stratford, and there's a chip shop, or something fish bar, I can't remember it, is in Stratford Broadway.
Alexis
0:00:47
Oh, yeah, yeah, it's just round the corner. It's like in between, is it? Is it like you know on the Broadway stop and you cross the road?
Lara
0:00:52
Yeah, that's it. Yeah? Yeah, yeah.
Lara
0:00:55
That's the fish and chips shop. So my dad used to take me there back in the 80s,
Lara
0:00:58
basically.
Lara
0:00:59
- Oh, okay. - In the 80s, my dad used to take me there.
Alexis
0:01:00
You've been around that long.
Lara
0:01:01
Yeah, I've been there for a long time. In the 80s and early 90s, my dad used to take me there. So for me, that's my fondest memories. If when I smell fish and chips now, it just brings me back to my childhood. It brings me back. That's the memory.
Alexis
0:01:16
Do you have it every once a week or?
Lara
0:01:18
No. No. Now, you know, I hardly have it at all, only because obviously I'll buy it for my son, but not for myself, because it's not healthy for you. But it's just a memory and a nostalgia. When I smell fish and chips, it brings me back to my childhood. So yeah. - That's nice. Yeah. Do you have any view of Nigeria? - We always have, always. That's a constant.
Alexis
0:01:41
You know, any particular like you think, gosh, out of all the foods, this is what I really like.
Lara
0:01:47
Yeah, of course. So we have this thing called pounded yam. And efo, efo riro, it's like vegetable.
Alexis
0:01:53
How do you say that again? Efo. As in E-F-O.
Lara
0:01:56
No, E-F-O. That's efo. Riro, R-I-R-O. You know what, someone will slate me because of my accent, so before anybody gets at me because of my accent, you know, pronouncing it is not great, if anyone listens to this now, they'll say how is she pronouncing that it's terrible. E-F-O, short for Eforiro, and pounded yam. Obviously for the tape, you know, my accent's not very great, but that's my favourite dish of all dishes. - So what do you have it with? - So the vegetables, so the pounded yam on the side, and then the efo, which is like vegetables, like spinach. - So the pounded yam, is it like a powdery type thing and you put it together and make it like a dough? - Yeah, it's like fufu, basically. - So somebody who doesn't know what fufu is... - Oh, so fufu, sorry, it's like a powdered, it's powder, basically. It's yam, but it's powdered. It's yam, but in powder form. So the yam, the vegetable, yam, it's basically pounded. So in Nigeria, you'd pound it. They would actually pound the yam itself. I've had it real, like when I went to Nigeria, I've had the real pounded yam. - Pounded is just like beating it. - Yeah, beating it, sorry. Yeah, you beat it to make it a substance broth and then obviously you - you put anything in it like water? - Hot water, hot water and then you kind of obviously stir it to make like a basically like a a ball.
Alexis
0:03:27
Yeah, almost like um you know like a bread, it's like made out of yam, it's like in your dough, like a kind of dough thing.
Lara
0:03:30
Like that and then obviously you use that and you dip it in the the efo which is the vegetable and then you can have it with like maybe fish or chicken or salted meat or whatever it may be. That is my, and that dish comes from my hometown, from Ondo State.
Alexis
0:03:44
From Ondo State?
Lara
0:03:45
Yeah, from Ondo State.
Alexis
0:03:46
Oh, Ondo State.
Lara
0:03:47
Ondo, so you spell Ondo's and like you look at London, you take off the L, you take off the N, and that you get Ondo.
Alexis
0:03:53
Oh, OK, Ondo, OK. Oh, OK, Ondo, OK.
Lara
0:03:54
Yeah.
Marcus’ Story by Alexis - Deep Boroughs
Marcus
0:00:00
I eat all of it. I try to try different cultures at least once. I put that pressure on myself, especially because I've lived in different areas. I lived in South London, so they've got quite a lot of, they've got a big South American community. So I was really trying stuff that I'd never tried before. But in East London, I'd say I like my Ugandan food first.
Marcus
0:00:22
That's my favorite.
Marcus
0:00:23
That's obviously at home.
Alexis
0:00:27
So what is the Ugandan food? Does it consist of, for example, give us an example.
Marcus
0:00:31
It's interesting.
Twinkle
0:00:32
Any particular dish or something?
Alexis
0:00:33
Yeah, special dish, your favourite dish.
Marcus
0:00:35
So my favourite dish, it's interesting because in Uganda, well I think East Africa in general, we had an influx of South Asians, maybe a hundred years ago and what not, so they brought samosas, chapatis and whatnot with them. So now it's like become socialized in East Africa. So my favorite dish would have some chapati on it, which is from South Asian influence. It would have green bananas, which we then mash and call matoke. So that's like green banana.
Alexis
0:01:07
Does normal green bananas mashed? Do you put anything in it?
Marcus
0:01:10
So they'll like steam it and then mash it and then what you would have that with you could have like a stew, a meat stew, beans, rices, you've got yams, the good thing Uganda's got like so much variety in terms of green foods so you can there's like papayas, passion fruits, guavas, like almost like any fruit. - Do you eat meat? - Yeah yeah I went through a phase where I didn't eat meat, I didn't really eat pork now I'm just eating everything and then I'll probably stop eating pork again. - So what's the name again of the food? The whole dish? Is it a dish? - Yeah so the dish won't have a name. - Oh right, it doesn't have a name, it's just a type of thing. - It's the selection. What will let you know it's a Ugandan dish is when you've got the steamed green bananas that are mashed together. You'll have like, we call it posho, but it's similar to fufu in the sense that it's like a -like a rice substance, a floury type thing - yeah, and our one comes from maize, you'll have that on the dish. You'll have chapati there. You'll have beans. You'll have blended, blended groundnuts into like a kind of like a, like a sauce kind of, like a condiment.
Marcus
0:02:42
So we call that,
Marcus
0:02:43
what do we, why is it so good? We call it binyebwa. That's what we call it. And you have avocado,
Marcus
0:02:56
there will be rice,
Marcus
0:02:58
and maybe some meat stew, and that will be like a quintessence. If you had that dish and you showed it to someone, they'll be like, yeah, you're Ugandan. I can tell.
Alexis
0:03:08
Twinkle
0:03:10
It's like a wide variety of...
Marcus
0:03:12
That's what I'm saying to you. And because of the South Asian influence, as well as having us eating vegetables and meats that a lot of other diaspora and African countries or even Caribbean countries eat, when it's time for me to eat Nigerian food or Caribbean food, I really don't feel that far removed. Even if I'm to eat Asian food, I don't feel far removed from any southern hemisphere foods. I'm not, you wouldn't scare me with it.
Alexis
0:03:43
What about the English food? Is there anything in England that, yeah. - English food? - I'll say you've got a bit of a reaction. I know that no one can see you, but. You reacted to it with almost like a shock, but I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
Marcus
0:03:47
Alexis
0:03:55
Marcus
0:03:57
No, because I feel like, I feel bad, like I'm straight, super off topic. Because you asked me English food as well as home food. So we just went all the way in one direction, so I feel bad. But I don't like pie and mash and liquor.
Alexis
0:04:13
You don't? No.
Marcus
0:04:15
Especially the liquor, it's like... But I feel very cultured that I've tried it though. Yeah, so if I've got like a Cockney friend, I might say, oh, you...
Alexis
0:04:25
Have you tried it in Custom House or somewhere else?
Marcus
0:04:27
I tried it in, I think I tried it in Walthamstow, that's when I first tried it. But, you know, in terms of English food, I like, there's a fish and chips place called Ercan, that's near Upton Park, and I really like that, and that's like proper fish and chips. Sometimes like, I guess growing up here, sometimes I get bored if I just eat one culture's food too much, I get bored. So I'm like, okay, I'm feeling a bit English today, let me have fish and chips.
Alexis
0:05:01
Did you have it once? Did you have it any, did you have it, when you were young, did you have that in your dish? As in like, your parents would still give you fish and chips or they never gave you?
Marcus
0:05:10
No, so I had that when I moved here, to Custom House. That's an element of me, when in Rome, that's an element of that. Where I was, we were more like chicken and chips. My foreign friends that weren't born here, so they were born in Africa or somewhere else, the full English, they love it. They're like, yeah, we like that.
Alexis
0:05:30
Yeah, because it's like a big,
Twinkle
0:05:31
Yeah, it's a big portion.
Marcus
0:05:32
- Yeah, they don't want this little bread. - Yeah, and it's not something that's native to those cultures, so they feel like they're culturally expanding. Like, yeah, I'm having a full English. They feel like they're doing something. But even for me, yeah, I like the full English. I used to have that more when I was young, but now, like every now and again, I'll eat fish and chips. But even I'll order chicken and chips from the fish and chips place, though. So I think I'm doing it I'm cheating yeah yeah the big chips yeah that one is English as hell yeah like a finger it's a big chip yeah that's English - is that what the chip shop near you does the one that you're talking about. Are they big chips, like massive ones or are they just... - Big massive ones, yeah. That's the one that I order from. That's from Upton Park. Ercan. Any West Ham fan, if you say Ercan, they know it. Oh, so the fans like it as well? Yeah. So is it near where old West Ham football ground used to be? Yeah, literally, yeah. Near the Bobby Moore statue. - Oh, is it? - Yeah. It's a Turkish run, but they're delivering...
Alexis
0:06:52
To fans, mainly.
Marcus
0:06:54
And they're delivering that traditional fish and chips type of thing. Yeah. Which I guess is very East End, right?
Alexis
0:07:02
It's very East End, and it's not in the box, is it? Because there's only one place I know that does that in Hackney.
Marcus
0:07:07
Yeah, it'll come in a box sometimes. It'll come in a proper box. It'll come in a box, but it'll be wrapped up in that particular way.
Alexis
0:07:13
Because not very many fish shops do the box anymore, but you know, putting the chips in the boxes.
Marcus
0:07:18
- They used to do newspaper, do you remember? That's what gives the tradition in East London. - Yeah, and you had it with the Saveloy as well. - Oh see, you know that. You didn't like the Saveloy?
Marcus
0:07:28
I do like it.
Markets by Discover Children’s Story Centre
1
0:00:00
Markets. Markets everywhere, Romanian market, Plaistow, sweet, sweet chocolate, Whitechapel market, meat, fruit, veg, all Halal. Tasty, I mean, Green Street market, Asian food, South Asian clothes reminds me of home.
2
0:00:28
The whole world lives here in our market: there are textiles, food and top. Home is all around us.
Michael’s Story by Lynette - Badu Digital Hub
Michael
0:00:00
Any traditions? -Any Ghanian traditions - I know one that like you say if someone does something well or does something good you give them an egg yeah that's a tradition so even like a birthday or like once you do good in school yeah I'll buy you an egg.
Lynette
Like so just like an egg? So just I'll, let's say it was my birthday - yeah - you give me an egg - yeah, I would give you an egg yeah - and what is it you do you know what it symbolises? I know it symbolises something good
Michael
I don't even know, all I know it's just an egg.
Lynette
It's a tradition. Okay it's really cool though I love traditions they're so interesting. What do you miss like about living in East London?
Michael
I would say say the food shops there's very different like cultural food especially all in one place. So, for example, if I go to Dalston, I can go from Chinese to Jamaican, all on one road. And it's just nice to see that you have so much options and so much cultures to explore. So yeah.
Pamela’ s Story by Alexis - Deep Boroughs
Pamela
0:00:00
I tell people that I love them like cou-cou and flying fish.
Alexis
0:00:04
So cou-cou is a...
Pamela
0:00:06
Yeah, cou-cou is a dish made with cornmeals and okra. And it takes quite a long time to be able to perfect it. Yeah, I get scared.
Alexis
0:00:18
Is it like a biscuit or?
Pamela
0:00:18
No, it's like cornmeal and okras. You boil the okras separately and then you add it to the cornmeal and then you have a cou-cou stick, which is like a miniature cricket bat. you need to keep stirring with it until it becomes, I think Jamaicans call it cornmeal. I don't know if there's an equivalent in Dominican.
Alexis
0:00:39
I never knew that the okra plant like you can actually use it. And what is the purpose of it?
Pamela
0:00:43
Ladies finger's is another word for them.
Pamela
0:00:48
You boil it first, and then it goes all gluceing. And then you add the glucey bit to the cornmeal, and you've got to keep on stirring, otherwise it gets all lumpy. And you do it into a nice paste. I think Africans will call it fufu. It's very similar to that. And flying fish, which there's a debate at the moment who the flying fish belong to, whether it's Barbados or Trinidad. They keep their fish go where the fish go. So when they go into Trinidadian waters, Trinidad sells them back to Barbados. So the fish do fly.
Alexis
0:01:25
With Barbados, we've always known, or always heard that Barbados, that was their national kind of symbol dish type of Barbados and flying fish, that's all. I know, so I think it would be a shame to take it away from Barbados because I think that's the only thing I associate with it so yeah.
Pamela
0:01:41
I've got no issue with that. I think the fish go where the fish go. It's not as though they're being persuaded or anything. But I do remember falling out with a colleague at work who was from Trinidad. And my line manager got us together and she said, what is it? What is it with you two? And I said, I don't know, it must be the flying fish. I just think we just have different personalities and work in different ways.
Sara’s Story by Ismena - Roma Support Group
0:00:00
Ismena:
Hi, what's your name and where do you come from?
Sara:
Hello, my name is Sara and I come from Poland.
Ismena:
And how long have you been in the UK for?
Sara:
It will be around 25 years.
Ismena:
And could you tell us how was it settling in the UK?
Sara:
Well, that came easy for me because I came here when I was like 2 years old, so I practically grew up, was raised here from a young age, I would say it was more tricky for my parents. They experienced a lot harder because of the language barrier, they kind of started everything from scratch, they left everything in Poland and had to start all the way from the beginning. So I think for them it was a lot harder, but for me, because I was so little, it was quite easy to just settle in.
0:00:49
Ismena:
And how was your experience going to the school in the UK?
Sara:
I had a good experience, but that's only because I didn't really admit that I was Roma. I only said that I was from Poland. I didn't really want to admit that I was Roma because everyone had that kind of stereotypical thinking about Roma. They thought only negative things really and I didn't want them to think like that and I didn't want to miss out on any opportunities so I just kind of went along with just saying that I'm from Poland and I felt like I had a good experience that way.
Ismena:
And what do you like most about the Roma culture?
Sara:
There's a few things that I like. I would say that obviously very musical culture, that's very nice, it's very rich, but mainly that we're very close, we have big families, family is a very important thing in the Roma culture, and also respect elders, that's something that's very nice to see.
0:01:54
Ismena:
And what's important to Roma people in their culture?
Sara:
Along with those things that I've already mentioned, also I think a big part is hospitality. That is a very big thing. If you come to my house, I will definitely have to put food on the table. It's not just because I have to, it's because we want to. Roma people are generally very, very hospitable. They like to make you eat and drink, make you feel comfortable at home and you'll notice that if you go to a Roma household we we want you to feel comfortable and have a good time and eat lots of good food.
Ismena:
And talking about food, what's Roma food like?
Sara:
It's very rich in the taste, we like lots of the spices and we like seasoned food, we have lots of meat in our dishes as well. It's very nice, yes, a very large variety of different dishes, but lots of meat, yes.
Ismena:
Was growing up and being raised any different in the UK than it was in Poland?
Sara:
Well, from what I've heard of what my parents said, their experiences from Poland, was that they experienced more racism in Poland because Poland wasn't so diverse then. But here in the UK we have lots of diversity so it was a lot easier to fit in. So we had like better experiences here.
Ismena:
And would you change anything about being Roma?
Sara:
No, I wouldn't want to change anything. I think our culture is very beautiful. It's got a very long history of travelling. There's Roma people all around the world. It's amazing to see that there are so many different Romas, but we are all connected. You'll find Roma all around the world. You'll find them in Spain, there's English Travellers. Even though we're so different in terms of our dialect and our language, sometimes, we are still connected because you can tell, like, oh, that's a Roma person by the way they look or the way they act. Yeah.
Ismena:
Thank you for sharing your experiences and we really appreciate it.