# Haitian food **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [September 13, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226 "2024-09-13T18:42:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/1 "2024-09-13T18:42:03Z")
> [@Springfield, OH immigrants: what's the actual story?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/springfield-oh-immigrants-whats-the-actual-story/1007220/6): > > The Haitians have been coming since 2020, so it’s not as if they showed up overnight. By now they have established restaurants… All kidding about cats-as-food aside, I’m now curious what Haitian cuisine is like. I loves me some jerk chicken, but that’s a Jamaican thing. Does Haitian food have similar Caribbean tendencies, or is there more French influence? ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/2 "2024-09-13T19:24:24Z")
Haitian food is Creole cuisine > **[Haitian cuisine](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_cuisine)** > > Haitian cuisine is a Creole cuisine that originates from a blend of several culinary styles that populated the western portion of the island of Hispaniola, namely African, French, indigenous Taíno, Spanish and Arab influences. Haitian cuisine has some similarities with "criollo" (Spanish for 'creole') cooking and similar to the rest of the Caribbean, but differs in several ways from its regional counterparts. Flavors are bold and spicy demonstrating African and French influences, with nota Levan... ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/3 "2024-09-13T20:17:57Z")
I have a banana cookbook that I bought decades ago (The Total Banana, by Alex Abella) which includes a recipe for “Tante Marie’s Cake” that purports to be from Haiti. As it happens, I made the recipe a couple of months ago. It’s not “cake” in the sense of a sweet leavened flour-based confection, but boy is it good! It is a mix of bananas, sweet potatoes, lemon, brown sugar, rum, and allspice, pureed together, baked and soaked in a bit more rum when it comes out of the oven. The texture is firm enough to cut into squares, but smooth and creamy. Whether it is authentic or not I have no idea, but I don’t care. I took some to an office gathering and within minutes it was nearly gone. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/4 "2024-09-13T21:07:37Z")
This looks like a good start: [Discover the Rich Flavors of Haiti - Pikliz Perfected – In the Kitchen with Alexandra](https://inthekitchenwithalexandra.com/blogs/pikliz-perfected/discover-the-rich-flavors-of-haiti-10-popular-haitian-dishes-you-need-to-try-today?srsltid=AfmBOorteAXNbDn6Lv69W4QD93rlMDL3NF3TyAtiTZ--c6TWTCY9fg3M) I like kalalou, mmmm. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/5 "2024-09-13T22:32:09Z")
Haiti is a very poor country. The cuisine of the wealthy and the food of the poor are two very different things. My niece was a remote missionary there out in the hinterlands for 4 years. Lotta rice & pasta & beans & root veg w a smidgen of goat or chicken. She was upcountry, not coastal, so fish was simply unavailable. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/6 "2024-09-13T23:06:41Z")
(Happy birthday!) Here’s a [Gateau Orange](https://globalkitchentravels.com/traditional-haitian-cake-gateau-ayisyen-zoranj/) for you. [![](https://globalkitchentravels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Orange-Cake-LR-HERO.jpg) ](https://globalkitchentravels.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Orange-Cake-LR-HERO.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/7 "2024-09-14T00:17:07Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Haiti is a very poor country. Very _very_ poor country. Rice&beans. Creole cooking. People we know in the Caribbean all have friends/relatives in Haiti. It’s sad how bad off the people there are. Disaster after disaster. We were in St Martin when the earthquake hit. People were walking down the streets in tears. ETA: politicians using Haitians for their political purposes should be fucking ashamed of themselves. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/8 "2024-09-14T01:01:07Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I have a banana cookbook that I bought decades ago (The Total Banana, by Alex Abella) which includes a recipe for “Tante Marie’s Cake” that purports to be from Haiti. You’ve forced me to order a used copy online. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/9 "2024-09-14T01:01:52Z")
That sounds amazing.🍌 ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/10 "2024-09-14T02:34:03Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > You’ve forced me to order a used copy online. Enjoy! My favorites: **Carioca Banana** , p. 87. Sounds weird but it’s actually delicious. I thought it might be even better if I started by frying up some bacon and using that oil for frying the bananas, then adding the crumbled bacon bits to the final mix. However, it wasn’t worth the extra work - it’s already really good. **Banana lentil soup** , p. 94. When I first made it, I was a little disappointed - it just tasted like a run-of-the-mill minestrone, nothing special. But maybe it just had to sit a little for the flavors to develop; I froze some of it, and when I reheated it I thought, “why did I think this soup wasn’t good? It’s delicious.” Very good with oyster crackers! **Banana meatloaf,** p. 102. Another odd sounding recipe that works. But be careful not to use really ripe bananas or the result will be too sweet. **Kingston banana loaf** , p. 148. It’s just a banana bread, but pleasantly different. I’ve never had the guts to use peanuts, though - I’ve always made it with walnuts. **Tante Marie’s cake** , also p. 148. That’s the one that brought me to this thread. One word of caution - I don’t think the author was a professional chef, nor do some of the recipes appear to make sense. I doubt they were tested before publication. So read through each one skeptically, and if you think it needs to be adjusted, do it. There are some recipes I’ve looked at that make me say, “nah, that just can’t be right.” (For example, I’m almost positive I cut way back on the liquid in the banana lentil soup recipe.) But overall, I’m happy with the book, as it has some dishes I would never think of. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/11 "2024-09-14T02:41:20Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > So read through each one skeptically, and if you think it needs to be adjusted, do it. There are some recipes I’ve looked at that make me say, “nah, that just can’t be right.” But overall, I’m happy with the book, as it has some dishes I would never think of. I had a recipe for a Mexican chicken stew that used a banana which completely dissolved and helped round out the flavor. Same with Flying Jacob (Swedish). Neither are Haitian, of course! Can’t wait for the book. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/haitian-food/1007226/12 "2024-09-27T16:13:46Z")
I hope an anecdote is OK. I live in a place that’s majority immigrants. Biggest groups are Chinese, Brazilian, and Hatian. Literally 1/3 of my neighbors are Haitian. I mention this because I also live in one of the most underappreciated restaurant scenes in the Boston area. I can walk to probably 30 bars and restaurants, everything from Nepalese to Italian. There is a Caribbean restaurant about 1/3 mile from me. It’s mostly fried fish dishes (not like fish & chips, but I once got a red snapper that was fried and served whole on its side), and lots of variants of beans & rice (so the beans & rice are sort of the base, and then other things like chicken, fish, etc are mixed in based on what you ordered). I find the appetizers delicious, and the rest to be honest is kind of boring. Not per se bad, just dull. No idea if that’s the cuisine’s fault or the restaurant’s fault.