Caribbean Flavors And Vibes: America’s New Favorite Food

With the slow tempo of a Bob Marley-inspired reggae playlist in the background, Peta Leiba Demuren, is chopping garlic, crushing pimento, slicing onions and peppers, and marinating chicken for a busy night of fulfilling online food orders.

Chef Peta, as she is known, learned the art of authentic Jamaican cooking from her mother. Now, she's the chef and owner of JAQCC's Belly, a modern Afro-fusion restaurant that moved from Washington, D.C.'s Petworth neighborhood to Cleveland Park. With a unique melding of Jamaican, Nigerian and Cuban flavors adorning her menu, Leiba Demuren believes that Caribbean cuisine is rooted in dynamic spices, passion and the joy that arises from good memory.

"Caribbean food has highly impacted everything I know about existing, including every good memory," said Leiba Demuren, 38, a native-born Jamaican. "Our food has a lot of earthy flavors like coconut milk, jerk seasoning, curry, thyme and pimento, making our flavor wholesome, fresh, and tropical at the same time."

For decades, Jamaican carry-outs, Trinidadian bakeries, and Caribbean grocery stores have occupied storefronts throughout some of America’s most populated cities and thrived in various urban, suburban and rural neighborhoods that make up the United States’ vast landscape . As one of the trending flavors in the National Restaurant Association's "What's Hot 2023 Culinary Forecast," the bold flavors of Caribbean cuisine represent a new era in America’s culinary scene.

According to Tim Carman, a Washington Post food writer and under-the-radar restaurant expert, the modern revival of Caribbean food has been linked to greater media attention and the adaptation of well-known Caribbean dishes, such as Jerk Chicken, by mainstream restaurants.

"Diners are more interested in all sorts of different food," said Carman. "In Caribbean food, you get many different influences from the indigenous population of the islands, Africa, some Spanish influences, and it all comes together in this amazing cuisine."

To understand these influences, Chef Don Berto believes one must first understand the bittersweet history of the Caribbean. As a native-born Haitian and restauranteur, Berto describes Caribbean food as an expression of culture, creole flavor and peculiar past coming together on a plate.

"Anywhere there was colonization, the enslaved and the colonizers brought their food. When those worlds met, there was an extension of culture, food, and new taste…developed," said Berto, 41.

To illustrate the deep historical roots of Caribbean cuisine and flavor, Berto reflected on the Haitian delicacy of Soup Joumou, a traditional pumpkin soup made with spices, beef, vegetables, and pasta.

On January 1st, Haitians throughout the diaspora drink this soup to celebrate the successful slave rebellion against French colonizers who considered pumpkin a delicacy.

Berto is no exception. It's on the menu every New Year at his restaurant, Port-au-Prince Haitian Cuisine in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Commemorating history and spreading happy vibes for the present and future are critical ingredients to Caribbean food and flavor, according to Luis and Monique McSween, of Largo, Maryland. They own and operate CariBeat LLC—a Caribbean lifestyle company that focuses on catering, event production, developing packaged Trinidadian sauces and beverages and serving as the mid-Atlantic distributor for various Caribbean food brands.

With a live band, music, and dancing, CariBeat turns the hustle and bustle of the District's Union Market into a "no worries" Caribbean dance party, filled with bright colors, soca music, cups full of rum punch and hibiscus juice and plates of Pelau—Trinidad's national dish which consists of chicken cooked in a sugar caramelized sauce served with rice and vegetable.

"Well-prepared food generates conversation. With conversation, we have an opportunity to educate our customers about the unique cultures that make up the Caribbean and our role in American culture," said Monique McSween, a former Trinidadian diplomat. "Beyond education, we invite folks into the Caribbean experience."

With most Black Caribbean migrants choosing to settle in homogenous Black neighborhoods throughout the United States, Luis McSween believes that access to Caribbean food in its authenticity can often be limited to the population at large creating and disconnect between the cuisine and its potential new markets.

To resolve this disconnect, the McSweens have been utilizing food as a bridge to deepen America's understanding of Caribbean culture.

"There is often a disconnect between authentic Caribbean cooking and flavors and what is accessible to the American palette at large," Luis McSween said. "Building the bridge to new audiences looking for new flavor starts with creating more opportunities to taste our region's food in its authenticity."

It is that authenticity that Barbara Francis, a Maryland resident, Caribeat customer, and a native Trinidadian want to see more in the United States.

"If you want a good jerk, go to a Jamaican. If you want good Roti, go to a Trinidadian," said Francis, "We need more dining options, particularly nice restaurants, where we can get these dishes through the District of Columbia."

Back in Chef Peta's kitchen, authentic Jamaican cuisine is being married with favorites from across the African Diaspora to create something new. Whether it be pairing Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Nigerian Jollof Rice, Curried Lambchops with Cuban-style Paella, or a Honey Old Bay Salmon Steak cooked with Jamaican herbs and spices, Leiba Demuren believes that blending of flavors allows her patrons to enjoy Jamaican food while also sampling other Black migrant flavors on the same plate.

"At JAQCC's Belly, we are laser-focused on incorporating parts of American culture into Jamaican cooking," Leiba Demuren said. "When you walk into our restaurant, you will see traditional Jamaican dishes not prepared in traditional Jamaican styles. Our flavors are very similar, it's just more modern."

In the early 2000s, Leiba Demuren came to America as a teenager following a cancer diagnosis that required her father to get full-time treatment at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C.. She described food as her family's secret weapon in developing new relationships.

"We connected with people and found a new home here by offering our cuisine to different people," she said.

With a passion for bold Caribbean flavors tracing back to her mother's restaurant and catering business in Mandeville, Jamaica, Leiba Demuren's love for the kitchen stems from the energy transfer she believes comes from people enjoying good food and bold flavors.

Following the traumatic loss of her mother to cancer and the start of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Leiba Demuren kicked off a renaissance in Caribbean food through the start of an Instagram account, @CookingwithPeta.

Intending to live out her mother's American dream of opening a restaurant with her two daughters, Leiba Demuren opened JAQCC's Belly in the middle of the pandemic hoping to bring food lovers of all cultures together for a fresh take on authentic Caribbean cuisine.

To assist in making Caribbean food an American favorite, Leiba Demuren is currently working on a cookbook and a bottled pineapple hot sauce while building out a new Cleveland Park location—a couple of miles away from her current Petworth location—that will give her patrons an island vibe when they walk by.

"Through vibrant, attractive, and visually appealing plates, we hope to keep our patrons buzzing," she said. "When folks pass our new locations, we want them to smell a little island flavor. And once they walk in the door, we want them to feel like they are stepping into a little piece of Jamaica."

Like Leiba Demuren, Chef Don Berto's love of food originated in his stepmother's Port-au-Prince kitchen. Berto rediscovered his love of cooking as a student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he cooked Haitian cuisine out of his dorm room.

"If you look at Haiti today, every region of the country has its own cuisine, and many of them originate from different parts of Africa," said Berto, who immigrated to the United States at 19.

With fried goat (Taso Kabrit), stew chicken (Poul en sos), fried plantains (Bannann) and Red Snapper (Pwason Roz) as menu favorites, Chef Berto showcases the beauty of Haitian cuisine and Caribbean culture through food, authentic Haitian artwork and bi-monthly language exchange meetups.

Starting as a weekly pop-up in 2016, Port-au-Prince Haitian Cuisine has become a hit for the Haitian diaspora, folks from the Caribbean, and District residents who may or may not have traveled to Haiti. With Haiti being one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, Berto wants his culinary work to change the narrative of the island nation.

"We want people to know that Haitian cuisine isn't poor people's food. It is based on a deep history and is prepared with love and compassion," he said.

It's that preparation, love, great storytelling, and a commitment to a cross-section of bold flavors and talented chefs that Leiba Demuren believes has put the district's food scene on the map nationwide.

Luis McSween agreed.

"When we arrive in the United States as immigrants, we bring our culture with us," Luis McSween said. "The food business allows us to celebrate our identity as Caribbean while still showcasing another type of American food."

With Leiba Demuren's new kitchen slated to open in mid-February blocks away from Smithsonian's National Zoo, her Bob Marley playlist will have a new home. And for patrons across the district, the question will now be what Caribbean country's cuisine they should enjoy, Haitian, Trinidadian, or Jamaican?