To wonder why West Indian food isn't as popular as other cuisines?

[LoafersOrLouboutins]

I've always been a fan and living in NW London there is a huge variety of restaurants on my doorstep. Yesterday I took the DDs (ages 2 and 5) out for lunch, we went to my favourite West Indian restaurant and shared curry goat, jerk pork, plantain chips and dumplings with coconut water for the DDs and a rum punch for me (at 1pm ).

The restaurant wasn't as busy as the Chinese across the road or any of the other restaurants we passed. The West Indian takeaways weren't as busy as other take-aways and whenever I have a take-aways with my friends they want Vietnamese or Mexican. My colleagues tend to hold meetings or the Christmas 'do in Italian or Japanese restaurants. When I suggested we hold the 'team building' exercise at a West Indian restaurant everybody was a bit . Why hasn't it taken off in the UK like other cuisines?! Tis fab! Or is it really popular and I just have really boring colleagues and friends? IMO Chinese is very same-y and can be too sweet, but it seems to be the most popular cuisine in the UK.

I don't know why this popped into my head, but does anyone remember Spud U Likes? They seemed to be all over London in the late 80s...

Ackee is a fortune wherever you buy it. Salt fish is easy enough to get hold of from your local market ( if there is a sizeable WI population) .
I can get hold of any of the ingredients to make a dish but eateries are a rarity ,yet we have a huge WI population here.

No I've never been to a Turtle Bay restaurant, I try to avoid chain restaurants (with the exception of Pizza Express). are they nice? I've never tried to make it myself at home so I'm not sure of the exact nutrition but it is very Carb heavy/fries. Jamaican patties are AMAZING! They're best too hot to touch and crumbling. I used to buy them on the way home from work when I was pregnant then re-heat in the morning and eat 2 for breakfast (I also gained 3 and a half stone...).£4.99 for tinned Ackee is shocking .

What was Spud U likes? I was a child in Devon in the late 80s... Interesting point about the class/snobbery thing, I hadn't thought of that but I suspect it could be true.

No saltfish here. Even tried the one African food store here - said they'd have to order it it. Our BME population is made up of Eastern Europeans - very few Asian/West Indian. Still, Tesco sell saltfish now so I'm content. I wonder where I can get my hands on a patty... I want a patty.

Loafer - did dc come out tumeric in colour? x

I went to a festival a few years ago and spent 3 days eating mainly WI food from this wonderful stall
We had no real experience of any food of that type so we started off at the top of the menu and worked our way down, it was mostly awesome!
Did nothing positive for my waistline though..

Spud U Like was a chain of baked potato eateries. I wouldn't dream of eating them now, but they were sort of addictive at the time. I moved to London from the North - thought I was evah so clarsy if I went to a Garfunkels x

It's really expensive where I am. I love it but agree it's not as popular.

I think it's also because the West Indian population in the Uk is relatively concentrated in a few urban areas -so smaller towns don't have the people to initially support WI restaurants. Whereas the Chinese population in UK was more widespread. Plus the fact that holidays in the Carrib. are quite often all inclusive, and holidaymakers don't really experience much of the local cuisine. Plus the fact that WI food is quite different to what we 'know' in the UK so there aren't as many reference points, as there were in eg Chinese to Thai.

I don't know. There's only one WI restaurant near me now, but when I used to live in NE London (right up until two weeks back!) there was none I knew of in my small area. There were loads of takeaways and restaurants though, but, almost exclusively, they were Turkish, Indian (South Indian or Punjabi mainly) and Sri Lankan. But then, althoigh there are a lot of people, comparatively, from the West Indies where I live now, there were very few where I used to live.

Because it's not as nice.

Devon may not have a lot of Caribbean restaurants but it is home to a fantastic Caribbean caterer , Janice, trading as " Fancy that Caribbean" . her food is great, her unit clean and her food handling standards are as high as they come. I love her curried goat, my vegitarian boss raves about her various veggy curries. Always happy when i see Fancy that at an event I'm working on as I know I will eat well. www.fancythatcaribbean.co.uk

There are no West Indian restaurants/takeaways in my area, at least not that I'm aware of. It definitely isn't a multi cultural area, but even so there are many Indian ,Chinese, Italian, and Thai restaurants.
I think chefs from these ethnic backgrounds have found ways of adapting and marketing their cuisine in ways that appeal to the majority population, and West Indians haven't (or perhaps no one has really attempted to yet).
I've got to be honest when I see West Indian food on TV (come dine with me, eg) it doesn't really appeal to me that much, partly because I am a vegetarian (occasional fish eater). If I want a curry I would go to an Indian restaurant, and have plenty of choice.

I really have to disagree about West Indian food being unhealthy and most dishes usually have a very high vegetable content. You have to remember the food that is usually offered in restaurants isnt always the same food people of that culture would eat every day.

If we eat West Indian food from a take away or a restaurant we usually prefer the small, family run places as the food is usually more authentic.

Oh. I thought they had died a death back in the 80s. Have just googled - interesting - thought they were an American import. Just to point out - I wouldn't eat one now because I can make them better myself and I refuse to pay more money for something I make better/cheaper (same reason I don't do Sunday lunch out). Not a snobbery thing.

This thread has got me craving ackee and salt fish with rice and peas. Where I used to live in central London there were plenty of WI take aways because of the local population mix. There are less where I am now, which is a shame.

Because it's not as nice.

I disagree! It's so tasty! It's interesting there was a programme on bbc asking the exact same thing.
I think a lot of people I know just haven't tried it, but love it when they do. I'm in NW London and we have a few takeaways but we have to drive to them, so it is more of an effort.

I've never seen a West Indian restaurant, but I do go to St Pauls Bristol once a year for my jerk chicken fix!

YANBU, I love goat curry and jerk chicken. Some good goat curry on Camden market. I thought it was actually mutton?

lots of BangladeshiIndian takeaway food are drenched in oil

there's new wave of Indian takeaways which is with more home-made like food

as for West Indian food - of what I tried in their takeaways was quite oily and I need to give it another go

Too hot for me, although I've never had restaurant food, only at people's homes. I had curried goat at a wedding and it was lovely but I suffered eating it! Most of the restaurants near me (south London) seem to be no seating 'chicken and chips' type places too and I just don't do that type of takeaway - not snobby exactly, I just like to sit down when I eat.

nor is spanish food

fact is the only 3 that have mass popularity are Italian, Chinese and US

We actually have a West Indian office delivery service that comes to our office (central London) once a week. You can choose (made to order):

Jerk chicken/pork
Curry goat
Ackee & saltfish
Curry chicken
Peppered steak
Red pea stew

All served with rice & peas.

It's very tasty...but very heavy and lacking in fresh veg!