Improving dietary diversity in the Caribbean Community

Abstract

[Extract]. The Caribbean Region is blessed by diversity. The ethnic diversities of the people who inhabit it. The language diversity reflecting the tongues of original native people, the colonial history and the people brought here from Africa and India, not to mention the languages and dialects and patois which developed in the Caribbean. So, it should be expected that the Caribbean would naturally have a diversity in the foods we eat and the ways in which they are prepared. Indeed, the Caribbean of 25 to 50 years ago universally had some of the most incredible ways of preparing vegetables and fruit, peas and beans to make some of the most tasty and nutritious meals imaginable. Not only was the Caribbean a good place to live but it is one of the best places to visit and has one of the most—if not the most— tourism-dependent economies in the entire world. Along with an influx of visitors, came an influx of changing palates. The taste for imported sugary carbonated drinks outstripped the love of home-made mauby and lemonade and the love of fat-rich burgers outstripped the desire for steamed flying fish or escovitch fish. Add to that the globalisation of food marketing and distribution which made processed food rich in salt, sugars and fats not just easy to get in supermarkets, but also highly desired by the Caribbean consumer.