Favourite Christmas Meal in my Country

Preparing chapati:

Ingredients: Wheat flour, mixed into dough with water, oil, salt. Fortunately, all these ingredients are available in Barbados.

Preparation: Mix wheat flour and salt in a bowl then pour water bit by bit as you knead. Knead the dough for about 30 minutes and cut into balls. Next, roll the balls into thin discs using a rolling pin. Heat the frying pan and grease with oil. Once the frying pan gets hot, add a rolled dough and apply oil on top, once the top slightly bubbles up, flip it over and cook the other side. Remove it when both sides have brown spots. Do the same for all the rolled doughs. In Kenya for Christmas, chapati is served with kuku. During Christmas, kuku is the favourite dish served alongside chapati.

Preparing kuku (chicken stew):

Ingredients: Chicken pieces, fresh coriander, garlic, green pepper, tomatoes, onions, cooking oil. Again, fortunately, these ingredients are found in Barbados though getting fresh coriander is at times quite problematic.

Preparation: Place the chicken pieces into a large sufuria (pot), add a little water and some salt. Cook for 40 minutes or until the chicken is tender. Drain off the excess broth from the sufuria and set aside. Add the onions and oil to the chicken and stir until the onions begin to turn golden brown. Add garlic and stir for 2 minutes then add green pepper and mix well for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and continue mixing in between until they are tender and fully cooked. Pour in the chicken broth earlier placed aside and mix. Cover and let it simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from stove, add coriander and cover for a minute before serving.

Our Barbadian friends who have had the benefit of eating chapati served with chicken stew (kuku) prepared Kenyan style by my wife and daughter in our house have loved the meal though they say that preparation of chapati is timeconsuming

Meal in My Country Favourite Christmas

Name: Frederick Ochieng’-Odhiambo. Country of Origin: Kenya, came to Barbados in August 2003. Popular Christmas dish of my land: Chapati and Kuku (chicken stew).

Popular Christmas dishes of native land:

In Venezuela, the biggest holiday celebrations occur on December 24th and 31st. Unlike other countries, Venezuelans use Christmas Day and New Year’s Day as a day of rest after the exertions of the festivities.

In Venezuela, Christmas celebrations have a religious aspect. It is not the arrival of Santa Claus, but rather the arrival of baby Jesus on the 24th of December that is celebrated. On this night, everyone puts on their new clothes and enjoys a family dinner.

Even though each of the following is an iconic Christmas dish, the typical Christmas dinner consists of: Hallacas, Pan de Jamon, Ensalada de Gallina and Pernil horneado, there are always variations according to regional customs and/or availability of resources, but I can assure you that in every Venezuelan home at least two of the above dishes are enjoyed during the holidays.

Let me briefly explain each dish:

Hallacas: is perhaps the most popular Venezuelan Christmas dish. There is a saying in Venezuela: “Nothing is more Christmassy than a hallaca”, and it is true. And while you will hardly ever see this dish at another time of year, it will be there on the 24th without fail. Hallaca is a kind of tamale stuffed mainly with pork, among other meats, and some vegetables, which are prepared in a stew. The stew is covered with dough made of pre-cooked corn flour and wrapped with banana leaves, then boiled until ready.

Pan de Jamon - Ham bread: is perhaps the second most iconic Christmas dish in Venezuela. It is a medium- or large-sized sweetish dough bread filled with various ingredients. In addition to ham, this bread also includes bacon, olives and raisins. Ham bread is usually made at home, although it is so traditional that all bakeries offer it during Christmas time in Venezuela.

Ensalada de Gallina - Chicken

Salad: After hallaca and ham bread, another key staple of Venezuelan Christmas cuisine is chicken salad. The name is a little misleading, however, as this salad is not actually made with chicken but rather with hen. Along with the hen, you can find vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and perhaps some others added depending on the region like apples and green peas.

Pernil horneado - Venezuelan

Roast Pork Leg: a - four hours- slowroasted marinated pork leg or pork shoulder, marinated overnight, juicy on the inside, caramelised-crispy on the outside, and savoury all over.

How do you prepare it in Barbados (what substitutes do you use, if any, for ingredients that cannot be found)?

Since I haven’t celebrated Christmas in Barbados (yet) I haven’t prepared the roasted pork leg and the Hallacas. I have done the Chicken Salad and the Ham Bread recently without any problem. I think the Ham bread would be the trickiest one since the charcuterie in Barbados is limited comparing it with Venezuela’s variety but nothing to worry about, instead of the usual slice smoked ham I used the chicken-roasted version easily found here and a confession… I also tried it with the croissant canned dough and let me tell you, it came out great.

Regarding the chicken salad (we really use hen). Onene of our teachers at the Venezuelan Institute for Culture and Cooperation happens to be a hen breeder so I sorted out the trickiest of the ingredients; the rest is easily found in any supermarket.

My colleagues told me that there is no problem finding the ingredients for the Hallacas and Pernil, but for the Hallacas we have to buy the corn meal in advance since the one we use is only found in two or three stores in Barbados and it can be scarce sometimes.

Another ingredient to watch out for is the banana leaves since the Hallacas are wrapped up and cooked with this. In Venezuela it is common to find them for sale in bulk or ready to use in any supermarket but I have been told that in Barbados one has

Name: Martha Ortega PerazaCountry of Origin: Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, came to Barbados nine months ago Popular Christmas dish of my land: Hallacas and Pan de Jamon

Name: Dominique NoralezCountry of Origin: Belize, came to Barbados in 2020 Popular Christmas dish of my land: Rice and beans with turkey and ham, stuffing and potato salad

Popular Christmas dishes of native land:

Popular Christmas dishes in Belize are influenced by Latin American and Caribbean flavours. I’m from Belize City and of Garifuna and Kriol heritage so in my household on Christmas Eve, the house, outside of the smell of fresh linoleum, paint and sometimes varnish and on the background of Boom and Chime music, smells like vanilla essence white cake and Black cake preparation for which began six months prior with the soaking of prunes, cherries, pecans and raisins in strong white rum and brown sugar spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg. Black cake in my household is mixed in with Tate and Lyle syrup, Wood Dunn Dairy Maid Pure Creamery Butter and Guinness Stout-my grandmother allows no substitution in brand. On Christmas morning there are always freshly baked kriol bread and buns that are paired with the equally fresh and sweetly glazed ham leg.

to search for someone with banana trees willing to sell us the leaves. Thank God we have a lot of friends willing to do so but the cleaning of the leaves is a process that takes a considerable amount of time but hey, the Hallacas are worth it!

How is it received by Barbadians who have it?

Well, a few months ago I had the opportunity to participate with the Embassy in a culinary exposition at the Golden Square Freedom Park as one of my first activities as head of the diplomatic mission and let me tell you that the love displayed by the Bajans for the Venezuelan dishes was OVERWHELMING! I couldn’t believe the lines that lasted all day, until the last arepa and empanada was handed out – unbelievable! So I truly believe that any Bajan would absolutely love the Venezuelan Christmas dishes.

Lunch is rice and beans (not peas), with turkey and ham with sides of stuffing, cranberry sauce and potato salad all washed down with Old Fashioned Belizean Lemonade or Coke and of course, you can’t forget the rum. In Hispanic homes, tamales abound and in Maya homes some steamy Caldo is a go-to. In Garifuna homes, fried Red Snapper is added to the table and in East Indian homes you cannot have Christmas without cohune cabbage. A popular decadent drink is Rum Popo which is a sweet milky mixture that incorporates the flavours of Christmas- warm spices, and, well, more rum.

How do you prepare it in Barbados (what substitutes do you use, if any, for ingredients that cannot be found)?

In Barbados, my fellow Belizean students and I usually potluck because of the cost of living- someone does ham, someone does a large enough chicken, another person does the rice and Beans, and another the potato salad and stuffing. Typically, someone bakes a white cake that is soaked in rum but we don’t touch the Black fruit cake or RumPopo: I consider that an art. My Barbadian friends are also quite warm and welcoming as well and I usually pray that someone’s mom is still in the conkie-making mood at Christmas without raisins.

How is it received by Barbadians who have it?

As mentioned earlier I’m usually with my Belizean family in Barbados during Christmas time but Belizeans are marvellous cooks. I am sure any guest would not only enjoy the meal but the bright and homey personality that all Belizeans herald.