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Portuguese and Chinese Guyanese Foodways

Community

Two smaller indentured streams that left disproportionate food marks. PORTUGUESE from MADEIRA, arriving from 1835, who moved from the estates into shopkeeping and gave Guyana GARLIC PORK — pork steeped for days in vinegar, garlic, thyme and hot pepper, then fried — which is a Madeiran carne de vinha d’alhos remade, and is CHRISTMAS FOOD for Guyanese of every background. CHINESE, chiefly from Guangdong, arriving from 1853, who gave the country CHOW MEIN and FRIED RICE in forms that are now Guyanese rather than Chinese — the chow mein sweeter, darker and cooked with local greens, and served at every Guyanese party beside the cook-up. ⚠ BOTH ARE RECORDED AS GUYANESE FOODS OF MIGRANT ORIGIN, not as foreign food in Guyana.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

Languages: Portuguese, Hakka, Cantonese

What is recorded

  • Garlic pork is documented as derived from Madeiran carne de vinha d’alhos, brought by Portuguese indentured migrants from 1835, and is now eaten at Christmas across Guyanese communities. Chinese indentured migration from 1853 produced Guyanese chow mein and fried rice, recorded as Guyanese dishes of Chinese origin rather than as Chinese food. documented
  • Portuguese indentured migration from Madeira, which brought carne de vinha d’alhos and made it Guyanese garlic pork. documented
  • Chinese indentured migration, chiefly from Guangdong. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • originates from Portuguese Foodways documented

    Garlic pork is Madeiran carne de vinha d’alhos remade in Guyana, and is now Christmas food across every Guyanese community.

  • related to Chinese documented

    Chinese indenture from 1853; Guyanese chow mein is now its own dish.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.