Some people in the Caribbean thought they could work for a short time in the UK, earn money, and then return home. Some people also felt that they should go as they had been taught since they were small children that they were part of the British Empire. People in the Caribbean thought that if they went to work in the UK, then the British would welcome and look after them.

The majority of the passengers were Jamaicans, but there were also large numbers of Bermudans, and as well as smaller groups of Trinidadians, Guyanese and white British people returning to the UK. There was even a small group of Polish people onboard who had been living in Mexico to escape Russian dictator Josef Stalin during WW2!

It was not the first ship to bring people over from the Caribbean to work in the UK. The Ormonde and the SS Almanzora ships had arrived from the West Indies the year before.

The Empire Windrush, though, was the first ship to come after the Nationality Act had been passed, and because there are so many pictures and films of the boat and it’s passengers, it became a symbol of migrants that were invited to the UK after the Second World War.

In 1948 Britain was struggling to recover after the Second World War. Although the war had ended 3 years before, food rationing was still going on and there was a massive shortage of workers.

A lot of Britain’s workers had died during the war or were still serving in the army. Great chunks of the country literally needed to be rebuilt after the wartime bombing raids. There were huge numbers of jobs unfilled, especially in the Transport service, the Post Office and the newly created National Health Service (NHS).

Britain needed workers to get the country back to what it had been before the War, so it looked overseas.

For hundreds of years Britain had an empire stretching across the globe. After the war, some parts of the empire - like India - became independent. The British West Indies (BWI) remained under British control as colonies. The BWI included the Bahamas, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

The people of these colonies had fought for Britain during the war, so perhaps they could help rebuild Britain in peacetime as well?

Paul Stephenson OBE used his skills as an ex-serviceman to organise the peaceful boycott of the Bristol Omnibus Company to break their ‘colour bar’ and create fairer conditions for Black bus workers.

Val McCalla would go on to launch the influential Black newspaper ‘The Voice’ in 1982.

Sam King MBE would set up ‘Pardner Hand’ schemes (p.13) and eventually end up the first Black Mayor of Southwark in London.

When the NHS was first created there was a big recruitment problem. Although a lot of British women had trained to be nurses in WW2, most of them had gone back to being housewives and looking after their families.

The Windrush passengers found themselves in a colder and wetter country than their previous homes, and also one that was rebuilding after years of bombings in the war.

Most of the passengers had already organised jobs and lodging for themselves before they got to Britain and were not intending to stay for more than a few years. However, some arrived with no plans, just an eagerness to work.

Some gangs became well known for their fights with rival youth groups, as well as for launching unprovoked attacks on newly arrived migrants.

Around 10,000 copies were distributed around the Caribbean. It was called ‘A West Indian in England’.

The writers said “‘…we have attempted to give the visitor from the West Indies a fair and frank picture, neither too fair nor too dark, of the circumstances he will find on his arrival in this country.’”

The fare is now almost three times as expensive as for the Windrush passengers!

To the present day, on the August bank holiday weekend, the streets of Notting Hill in West London are transformed into an annual celebration of Caribbean culture, which attracts over a million people of all backgrounds who come to take part in the parades, music, dancing and food.

Sadly, the carnival came out of a tragic local murder that took place there in 1959. Kelso Cochrane was a 32-year-old, Antiguan-born carpenter and aspiring lawyer, living in Notting Hill. He died after being the victim of a racially motivated attack by a gang of Teddy Boys on May 17th, 1959.

Jamaican workers in particular went there in the thousands after coming to the UK. Many put down roots and blended their Jamaican culture with the local Welsh culture. Today, there is still a large Jamaican/Welsh community in Port Talbot and Caribbean food, music and culture is firmly a part of Cardiff and Swansea leisure life.

As a result, a lot of West Indian people stayed together in areas where they could usually get housing or where there was safety in numbers, often sharing lodgings together.

A lot of British people assumed the West Indians were poor and coming over here for a better life, when actually they had been recruited by the UK government and it had cost them £28 and 10 shillings to get here. This was more than the average monthly UK wage for the time, so they were definitely not poor!

Pay was pretty basic at £7 10 Shillings per week. for a 44 hour working week. The national average pay was around £11 10s at the time. Women were paid less than men and weren’t allowed to become drivers until the late 1970s.

To make matters worse, some white staff at London Transport felt threatened by their new West Indian coworkers. Some trade unions tried to put quotas on how many Black or West Indian workers could be recruited and it was a lot harder for Black workers to get into higher positions.

People from all over the West Indian neighbourhood would gather in someone’s front rom and listen or dance to the music and some parts of the UK became especially famous for it, like rub-a-dub dancing in Brixton and blues parties in Derby Road, Southampton.

Some people had a job lined up but the only address they had for housing was their employer. They had to look for somewhere to rent, but they often found themselves turned away by landlords because they did not want to rent a flat or house to a black person. It was a shock, especially as many Caribbean people had fought for Britain during the war and this was not the image of Britain they had fought for, or grown up believing in.

Card games were popular but the real game for a lot of West Indians (and Jamaicans especially) was dominoes and the game is still incredibly popular today.

Dominoes are cheap, they’re easy to play, a great strategy game and, if you play Caribbean style, can be very expressive! Caribbean dominoes games (or ‘bones’) are often very exciting and noisy with cheers and loud celebration for the winners. Tiles are literally slapped and slammed onto the table (the ‘boneyard’) and slid into place while remaining tiles are carefully covered to keep anyone seeing your hand.

The biggest bragging right in dominoes is to get a 6-love score, which is when you win 6 games in a row to other players (6-0).

They were given a talk and asked to read a booklet all about life in Britain. They were warned about the weather and about the cramped post-war conditions, but not much else!

During colonial times the British had introduced games like cricket to the Caribbean. Cricket has strong association with rules and emphasis on ‘fair play’ and whilst it started out as a sport played by British soldiers, participation by black teams was gradually encouraged in order to spread British culture over traditional pastimes. When the British left the Caribbean, cricket stayed and it is still very popular to this day.

When people came over from the Caribbean, the natural thing to do was to try and join a cricket club, but English cricket clubs often barred Black Caribbean players because of their race (although the more famous Black players might be allowed in). So, instead, Caribbean cricketers would often make up their own clubs and by the late 1960s Caribbean clubs could be found in most of the UK’s major cities. Some, like the Carnegie CC formed in Brixton in 1955 are still going.

London Transport had its own teams too, because not only did it rely heavily on West Indian workers but it also maintained its own cricket facilities and other sports grounds specifically for their workers.

Rab Butler, the then British Home Secretary, made an appeal for witnesses in Parliament, and went on to launch a public inquiry into race relations.

During this turbulent time many activities were organised to ease racial tension within the Notting Hill area and prevent rioting.

Claudia Jones, a Trinidadian human rights activist based in London, put on a BBC broadcasted indoor ‘Caribbean Carnival’ at St Pancras Town Hall back in 1959. She is widely credited with planting the seeds for Carnival in the UK by doing so.

In 1966 the first outdoor children’s street fair took place in Notting Hill. It was organised by local resident and community activist, Rhaune Laslett, who stated that:

“We felt that although West Indians, Africans, Irish and many others nationalities all live in a very congested area, there is very little communication between us. If we can infect them with a desire to participate, then this can only have good results.”

It was this small community children’s street festival back in1966 that would become the world famous Notting Hill Carnival of today.

Unlike a lot of Caribbean food, it wasn’t as hard to come by in Britain - The British had been exporting it from their Caribbean colonies for centuries. It did become more poular in England, though.

The church could be a real comfort to Caribbean migrants in a new foreign country which was not always as friendly as it should have been. Many West Indian migrants came over wth their family Bible because that sense of community is important. The Bibles often had a family tree at the start so there was comfort and pride in taking a part of your family history, as well as your faith, with you on your travels.

These West Indians had a different experience of Britain to their non-RAF counterparts. Whilst other West Indians experienced racism and unsatisfying jobs and low pay, RAF serviceman were treated with respect and didn’t face the same barriers. The RAF prided itself on not having a ‘colour bar’ (a type of legal racism which meant things could be denied to Black people).

The Indo-Caribbean community was responsible for bringing curry to the Caribbean (particularly Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago) and now they brought it to Britain too. Today Caribbean restaurants and cafes are all over London, especially in south of the river in places like Brixton and Lewisham where there are still huge Caribbean communities.

Ration books were used until 1954 - nine years after the end of the war. Even then, some British food industries, such as the cheese industry, didn’t beging to properly recover until the 1980s.

Once rationing ended, it’s no wonder that the new types of cooking from abroad really became popular all over the country.

By 1955, 17 agencies were recruiting directly from the Caribbean.

The hair comb is made of metal and it would be heated up using an iron and then combed through the hair to force it straight. Some people straightened their hair because of prejudice, but some straihtened their hair to look more like favourite movie stars or musicians – just like today. The hot metal of the comb was very harmful to hair, and could sometimes damage it so badly that it burnt or even fell out.

Then there was the problem of cooking the food you knew. Unlike today, a lot of the vegetables and popular foods used everyday in the Caribbean were not available over here, especially in the 1950s amidst rationing. The Windrush generation had to put up with food very different to what they were used to. Compared to colourful, flavourful Caribbean food, British food seemed, for some, very bland - tasteless and stodgy with none of the spice and flavour they were used to.

It can be used as a virtual artefacts box or as an explaination of the content of the box.

For the Windrush passengers it acted as a sort of hostel, with bunk beds, its own canteen and a govenrment-run job centre.

This was a small group of people, often linked to the community church, who pooled their money together and then once a week the ‘banker’ of the group would give out the cash to whichever person whose turn it was that week.

Their influence is still heard today, with dubstep, jungle, grime, garage and drum and bass music all able to trace themselves back to Caribbean roots.

For Windrush families music was an essential part of everyday life. Black people were often not allowed in pubs, bars and clubs because of their race, so the Caribbean community took to their front rooms and turned them into their own social gatherings.

In the box we’ve included some silk screen prints from Bagshaws of St Lucia. Although there weren’t many St Lucians on the Empire Windrush, many were on the various boats that came afterwards and silkscreen prints like these may have come over with them. They show native birds of St Lucia and may have been used as placemats or as wall hangings to brighten up the walls.

West Indians from other islands would have had other objects to remind them of home – raffia crafts from Jamaica maybe or mahogany carvings from Barbados – all sorts!

Despite the name, this isn’t actually a bread. And its dense, crumbly texture isn’t quite a cake either. It’s moist with fresh coconut and dried fruits, fragrant with spices and incredibly moreish, explaining why it’s such a popular bake in most Caribbean islands. It's always made for Christmas and, sometimes, other holidays and special occasions like Easter, birthdays, etc.

Ingredients

3 x 80g packs prepared coconut (or prepare from a whole coconut)

40g light brown sugar

1½ tsp ground mixed spice

350g plain flour

2½ tsp baking powder

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp salt

225g caster sugar, plus 1 tbsp

100g glacé cherries, roughly chopped and rinsed, plus 5 left whole

50g raisins

50g cut mixed peel

100g butter, melted, plus extra to grease

75ml whole milk

1 large egg

1 tsp almond extract

Method

Grate the coconut to give you 200g – it’s easiest using a food processor to do this – you can discard (or eat) any chunks that won’t grate easily. Combine 50g of the grated coconut with the light brown sugar, ½ teaspoon of mixed spice and 1 tablespoon of water to make the filling. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 160°C, fan 140°C, gas 3 and lightly grease and line a 900g loaf tin (10 x 20cm base measurement). Sift the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, remaining mixed spice and the salt into a large bowl. Stir in 225g caster sugar followed by the chopped cherries, raisins, mixed peel and remaining 150g grated coconut.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, milk, egg and almond extract, then add to the dry ingredients. Stir together until you have a very stiff dough – this will be more like a biscuit dough then a bread or cake batter. Press half the dough into the tin then add the coconut filling down the centre, leaving a 5mm space at each end. Press the remaining dough on top, covering the filling completely, and top with the whole cherries, pressing them in lightly.

Bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes or until the bread is deeply golden and a skewer comes out practically clean (a few dry crumbs are fine). Meanwhile, dissolve the extra caster sugar in 1 tablespoon of just-boiled water. Brush over the bread then return it to the oven for 5 minutes

Many nationalities have a form of patty. It is basically a pastry shell filled with a combination of meat, vegetables, and more. Latin cuisine has the empanada or pastelitos, Greeks have the spanakopita, and the English (British) have the Cornish pastry. What they all entail is a handheld, compact, light or heavier pastry shell filled with goodness to eat on the go.

The beef patty is the most popular convenience food in Jamaica. It’s filled with well-seasoned beef, moist, and features Jamaica’s infamous scotch bonnet pepper. You can almost spot the patty from a mile away with its rich, deep yellow outer shell.

Ingredients

Dough

900 grams plain flour

2 teaspoons r salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon Jamaican curry powder

2 tablespoons turmeric powder

250 grams unsalted butter, grated

250 millilitres ice cold water

Beef Filling

2 tablespoons olive oil

500 gram minced beef

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

1 tablespoon garlic paste or minced garlic

1 teaspoon ginger paste or freshly grated ginger

Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon fresh or dried thyme

1 teaspoon ground Jamaican allspice

1/2 teaspoon Jamaican curry powder

1–2 scotch bonnet peppers, deseeded & finely chopped (use gloves)

4 scallions (green onion), chopped

125 millilitres chicken stock or broth, plus more as needed

125 grams plain breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

Method

Dough

In a large bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar, curry powder, and turmeric powder together. Whisk the dry ingredients well to combine. Then add in (or grate the butter over the bowl) the grated butter. Use your hands (fitted with disposable gloves, if desired) to pinch the butter into the dry mixture until little pea-sized bits form throughout and all the butter is coated with the flour mixture.

Then make a small well in the center of the mixture and pour in the ice-cold water. Use your hands, again, to bring everything together as much as you can. Empty out the bowl and all residual bits onto a clean surface. Use your hands to knead the dough together, squeezing the dough onto itself until the dough forms into one cohesive mass with no dry bits.

Shape the dough into a ball and then cover with plastic wrap. Transfer the dough into the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.

Beef Filling

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and coat the bottom of the skillet with the olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add in the ground beef. Use a wooden utensil to cook the beef, stirring often, until completely browned. Then add in the chopped onion, and continue cooking, about 3-4 minutes or until the onions are tender.

Stir in the garlic and ginger and continue cooking. Then add in the thyme, allspice, curry powder, scotch bonnet, and scallions. Stir together and continue cooking mixture for another 2-3 minutes.

Pour the stock/broth into the skillet and stir to combine for 1 minute. Then stir in the breadcrumbs and mix well until they’re mostly absorbed by the beef mixture. Add in the cubed pieces of butter and stir well until all butter has melted through. Note: At this point, look for the beef mixture to be juicy and moist. If your mixture is dry, add in a splash more of stock/broth until the mixture is visibly moist (but not watery). Then remove from heat and allow the beef mixture to cool down before assembling beef patties.

Beef Patty Assembly & Cooking

Preheat the oven to:

Fahrenheit         Celsius                Gas Mark

350 degrees      177 degrees      4

Position the oven rack into the center of the oven. Then line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or foil then set the baking sheet aside.

Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and divide the dough into equal pieces for patties. I like to use a kitchen scale to get a uniform size in each piece of dough (I make mine 5 ounces each, which will result in a total of 8 beef patties). You can make yours smaller for more patties as well.

After gathering the pieces of dough, roll them in the palms of your hands into a smooth ball. Then use a rolling pin to flatten the dough into a round shape that is about 3 millimetres-thick, about 6-7 inches.

Fill one side of the pastry with about 4 tablespoons of the beef filling mixture. For smaller patties, use 2 tablespoons. Then fold the empty side of the pastry over the beef filling, forming a crescent shape (half-moon). I like to bring the two pastry edges together and tuck/roll them under for extra measure, see video demonstration.

Then carefully flip the patty over and use a fork to crimp the edges. Place the patty onto the prepared baking sheet and repeat the process until all patties have been assembled and placed onto the baking sheet with a little space in between each one.

Bake the beef patties for 25-30 minutes or until they achieve a light, golden brown colour. Allow the patties to cool down for 5 minutes. Then serve immediately. Enjoy!

Gizzada is a Jamaican mini open-faced tart with spiced coconut filling. This handheld tart is characterized by a pinched crust (which is why this treat is also known as pinch-me-round).

Gizzada comes from the Portuguese word guisada, the name for a similar tart brought to Jamaica by Portuguese Jews fleeing persecution in the 1500s.

Ingredients

Crust

500 grams plain flour

125 grams salted butter (place in freezer for 5 minutes)

125 millilitres ice cold water

Gizzada Filling

500 grams  freshly grated brown coconut (or store bought unsweetened desiccated coconut)

1 tsp freshly grated ginger

500 grams brown sugar

1 tsp grated nutmeg

1 tsp ground all-spice

1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp vanilla extract

1 egg (optional)

Method

To make the dough. Add flour to a mixing bowl. Use a grater to grate cold butter into dough. Using your hands, press butter into flour until mixture clumps together and forms coarse pebbles. Add ice cold water a little at a time and knead until dough comes together and forms a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Prepare the filling.

If using fresh coconut: Add grated coconut to a bowl, along with grated ginger. Add brown sugar, grated nutmeg, ground all-spice, ground cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Stir and let sit uncovered for 30 minutes, or until all the sugar has dissolved. Stir occassionally.

If using store bought coconut: Add grated coconut to a bowl, along with grated ginger. Add brown sugar, grated nutmeg, ground all-spice, ground cinnamon, and vanilla extract. To a pot, add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil on the stove. Add coconut mixture to the boiling water and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, or until all the liquid has dissolved. Remove from pot and set aside to let the mixture cool while you prepare the crust.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove dough from fridge and press onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece out into a round, and use a cup, cover, or anything you have to shape the rounds into discs, roughly 4 to 5 inches in diameter. To shape, lift up a corner of the dough and use the index finger of your non-dominant hand to gently push a section of the dough into the thumb and index finger of your dominant hand. Pinch your thumb and index finger together to create a crease. Repeat this all the way around until you form a pleated cup. Repeat for the remaining pieces of dough. Use a fork to prick the base of the cups.

Pre-bake dough for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with a beaten egg. Top with a spoonful of the coconut filling. Spread the filling around to fill the entire cup. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Let cool. Enjoy!

Rotis are the same as chapatis, the flat bread from India. After the end of the slave trade, the British plantation owners realized that the African descendants, who were now free, were reluctant to work on the sugar estates. Therefore, East Indians were brought to the Caribbean to work on the plantations.

Ingredients

250g chapati flour or 125g wholemeal flour and 125g plain flour, plus extra for dusting and rolling

1 tsp sunflower oil

2 tbsp salted butter or ghee

Method

Mix the flour, oil and ½ tsp fine sea salt in a mixing bowl. Gradually add enough cold water (about 120ml) to make a firm but not dry dough.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead well for about 7–10 minutes, until smooth. Return the dough to a clean, dry bowl, cover with an upturned plate or cloth and leave to rest for 30 mins.

Knead in a little more chapati or plain flour if the dough looks sticky and then divide it into 12 evenly sized balls. Sprinkle each one with flour.

Heat a dry griddle on the stove over a medium heat. Put 3 tbsps of flour in a small bowl. Using the palms of your hands, flatten one of the dough balls into a circular disc and dip both sides in the flour. Now roll it with a circular motion to make a 12-14cm diameter circle with the thickness of a £1 coin. It can be easier to use a thin wooden rolling pin for this – the kind used for rolling out pasta.

Put the dough onto the hot griddle and cook for 1 minute, or until small air pockets start to form on its surface. Turn the chapati over with a palette knife or tongs and continue cooking for about a further 90 seconds, until the chapati picks up flecks of colour.

Carefully press the bread with a clean cloth as it cooks on the griddle – the chapati should swell up with hot air. Keep turning the bread as it cooks. These rotis are best served straight away with dollop of butter or ghee in the middle, but you can also wrap them in foil and bring the package to the table.

Although it’s often called Jamaican Callaloo, the recipe has roots in West Africa and is popular in many countries in the Caribbean islands, like Trinidad and Tobago, and Grenada. It is leafy green side dish, with onions, garlic, scotch bonnet, scallion and thyme.

The million-dollar question!

Callaloo/spinach and collard greens-  what is the difference between them, and can they all be used in this recipe?

Callaloo and spinach both comes from the amaranth family. Both leaves are very similar although spinach leaves tend to be slightly smaller and thinner in size.

Spinach is mild in taste and texture and cooks quicker compared to callaloo which has a stronger taste and firmer in appearance.

Collard greens are large, thicker and a darker leafy green vegetable that's not from the Amaranth family. It's coarser in texture and very similar to cabbage.

Ingredients

1 tbsp canola oil

1 medium onion cut into thin sliced

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 scotch bonnet pepper seeded and finely chopped

2 small tomatoes diced

1/2 tsp dried thyme or 2 fresh springs

1 kilo callaloo finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1/4 cup water

Method

In a large frying pan, sauté the onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic, scotch bonnet pepper, tomato, thyme, salt and pepper and continuing to cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Top with the callaloo, gently toss and add the water. Reduce heat to low.

Cover and steam for about 8-10 minutes, or until desired tenderness.

Originally from the island of Antigua and Barbuda, Johnny cake is thought to have come from the name ``journey cake'', which Caribbean farmers and fishermen used to take with them when the left home in the early hours to tend to the fields or boats. It was an easy meal wrapped in a handkerchief and was not expensive to make.

Ingredients

  250 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp caster sugar

30 g unsalted butter melted

55 ml milk semi-skimmed or whole

65 ml water

300 ml vegetable oil

Method

Mix together all the dry ingredients in your stand mixer bowl. Melt your butter.

Pour in the butter, the milk and water and mix together with a d-scraper or wooden spoon to incorporate into a dough.

Knead for 5 minutes using your mixer and dough hook, until the dough is soft and smooth. Leave to rest for 20 minutes.

Once rested, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces and roll them until around 1cm thickness (circles).

Heat your oil in a shallow frying pan or saucepan until it reaches around 180 degrees. A thermometer is handy but you can also just drop a small piece of bread in the pan and if it sizzles quickly, you'll know it's ready!

Drop in your dough carefully, two at a time. Fry for around 5 minutes, turning them every minute or so. You'll know they are done when they are golden. Place on a couple of kitchen towels on a plate to soak up the oil. Serve warm.

Jam puffs are a sweet jam filled pastry usually in the shape of a triangle sprinkled with brown sugar. They can be eaten for breakfast, in the afternoon, around teatime, or whenever you have the craving! These sweet treats originate from Barbados.

Ingredients

8 teaspoons of strawberry jam

200 grams of puff pastry

1 whisked egg for brushing

A little golden sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 190 degrees Celsius or Gas Mark 5

Cut the puff pastry into 8 equal-sized pieces (keep them rectangular).

Put a teaspoon full of jam in the middle of each pastry rectangle.

Beat the egg. Paint the edges of each pastry square with the egg, then fold two opposite corners of the pastry and join to make a triangle shape. Dip a fork into the egg and use it to crimp all round the cut edges of the triangle, sealing the jam inside.  

Place on a lined baking tray and brush the top of each pastry with the remaining egg, then dust with a liberal helping of the golden sugar.

Bake for approximately 10-15 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden.

Cool for a few minutes before serving (because the jam gets HOT).

ENJOY!

Pronounced coo-coo, this is a dish made of lightly seasoned cooked cornmeal mixed with okra and water. Though it takes some time to cook, it's relatively easy to prepare at home, and it makes a wonderful side to saucy fish, pork, and beef dishes.

Widely consumed in a variety of versions on Caribbean islands from Trinidad to Antigua and Barbuda, cou-cou can take many forms, but okra is a staple of the recipe. Many similar corn-based West African dishes— e.g. ugali or fufu—show how much the cuisine of this area influenced the flavours and recipes of the Caribbean, when enslaved people brought with them techniques and recipes and adapted them to what was available locally.

Ingredients

500 grams fine cornmeal

500 millilitres cold water

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

125 grams onions, finely chopped

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme

350 grams thinly sliced okra

I litre boiling water, more as needed

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 tablespoons salted butter, divided

Method

Soak the cornmeal the cold water for 5 minutes.

In a large pot, heat the oil and gently sauté the onions, garlic, and thyme for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add okra to the onion mixture in the pan

Pour the boiling water into the pot with the onion-okra mixture and let the vegetables boil for 10 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the okra and onions to a small bowl and set them aside.

Pour half of the liquid from the pot into a small bowl and reserve for later use. Have more boiling water on hand.

Turn the heat to low and simmer. Add the soaked cornmeal, plus the salt and 1 tablespoon of the butter. Stir constantly using a whisk to avoid lumps and keep the cornmeal mixture from scorching.

As the cornmeal begins to dry out, add the reserved cooking liquid in stages, stirring with a wooden spoon until the cornmeal is cooked. This process takes about 90 minutes. Stir the cou-cou at 15-minute intervals to ensure that it is not sticking to the bottom of the pot. If the cou-cou is dry, add more boiling water 1/4 to 1/2 cup at a time until the cornmeal is cooked through.

As the mixture begins to break away clean from the sides of the pot, add the okra and onions back and stir to incorporate fully.

Let the cou-cou continue to cook until it is firm but not stiff. The cou-cou should break away easily from the sides of the pot. Another way to check is to insert the wooden spoon into the middle of the cou-cou and see if it stands up—it also should be easily removed from the mixture.

Generously butter a medium bowl with the 1 1/2 tablespoons remaining butter. Once the mixture is properly cooked, pour it into the bowl, swirling it around to form a mold.

Invert the bowl onto a serving platter so the cou-cou drops out in a nicely shaped mound. Serve immediately.

Rice and peas is a one-pot Creole dish which originated in Jamaica and other Caribbean islands, during the colonial era. The dish includes a mixture of ingredients, cooking techniques and spices influenced by various ethnic groups that existed in the region at the time, including Africans, Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, Dutch and East Indians.

Ingredients

400g can kidney beans, rinsed and drained

400ml can coconut milk

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp ground allspice

6 spring onions, sliced

200g long grain rice

Method

Put the beans, coconut milk, thyme, allspice, 4 of the spring onions and 100ml water in a pan, and bring to a simmer. Season with plenty of salt and black pepper.

Rinse the rice a few times in a sieve until the water runs clear. Tip into the pan and simmer for 10 mins over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, before lowering the heat. Put the lid on and cook for another 5 mins until the grains are tender and the liquid has been absorbed. Fluff up the rice with a fork before serving and scatter with the reserved spring onions.

The Windrush Scandal and immigration in the 21st century

In 2012 the Conservative government introduced the

‘Hostile environment policy’, intended to reduce immigration to the UK. Many of the Windrush generation who had arrived in Britain after the war were young children on their parents’ passports, without papers of their own. The only proof of their status as legal migrants in Britain were landing cards, which had been destroyed by the Home Office in 2010. This meant that many people had no proof of their legal status. Although the governemnt had promised that people who had entered the country before the 1970s would be safe, many were wrongly deported.

By April 2019, 15,000 people were eligible for compensation but by November 2021 only 5.8 per cent had received this. By 2025 almost every major political party in Britain had pledged to reduce immigration into the UK. Sadly, at the time of writing this, despite the country being culturally and economically enriched by its immigrants, there is still ongoing conflict over what it means to be a citizen of Britain.