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Indigenous Guyanese Foodways

Indigenous

⚠ NINE RECOGNISED PEOPLES, NOT ONE. LOKONO (Arawak) and KARI’NA (Carib) on the coast and rivers; WARAO in the north-west delta country; AKAWAIO and PATAMONA (Kapon) in the Pakaraima highlands; MAKUSHI and WAPISHANA in the RUPUNUNI savanna; WAI-WAI in the deep south; ARECUNA/Pemón in the west. Shared across many: bitter cassava and its whole technology — cassava bread, farine, cassareep, parakari — plus river fish, hunted game, forest fruit and palm, and the TUMA POT, the pepper-pot of cassava juice and fish that is the everyday meal of the savanna and the direct ancestor of the national pepperpot. ⚠ THE RUPUNUNI IS ALSO CATTLE COUNTRY, ranched since the nineteenth century, so beef sits beside the forest foods there.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Lokono community documented
  • Kari’ña community documented
  • Warao community documented
  • Makushi community documented
  • Wapishana community documented
  • Patamona community documented
  • Akawaio community documented
  • Wai-Wai community documented

Languages: Lokono, Galibi Carib, Warao, Macushi, Wapishana, Patamona, Waiwai, Pemon, Akurio

What is recorded

  • Guyana recognises nine Indigenous peoples — Lokono, Kari’ña, Warao, Akawaio, Patamona, Makushi, Wapishana, Wai-Wai and Arecuna — whose foodways are not recorded as uniform. The tuma pot of the Rupununi savanna is documented as the direct antecedent of the national pepperpot. The Rupununi has also supported cattle ranching since the nineteenth century. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

Recorded as relating to this foodway

  • originates from Pepperpot documented

    ⚠ The national dish is Amerindian in origin — the tuma pot and cassareep — and Creole in its present form. Both are recorded.

  • related to Indigenous Surinamese Foodways documented

    Lokono and Kari’ña live in both countries; the border is not a cultural one.

  • related to Surinamese Maroon Foodways documented

    Shared bitter-cassava technology across the Guiana Shield.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.