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West Indian Panama and the Canal

Community

⚠ THE CANAL WAS BUILT BY WEST INDIANS AND THE FOOD IS THE EVIDENCE. Tens of thousands of labourers came from BARBADOS above all — the "Barbados Colony" — plus Jamaica, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Trinidad and St Lucia, first for the French attempt from 1881 and then for the American construction of 1904-14, at a documented human cost in the thousands from disease and accident. ⚠ THEY WERE PAID ON A SEGREGATED "SILVER ROLL" while white American workers were on the "gold roll" — a documented system with separate housing, commissaries and food. Their descendants are a large part of COLÓN and Panama City, speaking English and Panamanian creole, and their food is in the national kitchen: SAUS, pickled pigs’ feet; FUFU, the coconut-milk fish soup; bacalao; PATI; JOHNNYCAKE; plantain tarts; ginger beer and sorrel; and rice and beans in coconut milk alongside the Pacific-side arroz.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Afro-Antillean Panamanians community documented

Languages: English, Spanish

What is recorded

  • Tens of thousands of West Indian labourers, with Barbados supplying the largest single national contingent, worked the French canal attempt from 1881 and the American construction of 1904-14, at a documented cost of thousands of lives from disease and accident. The American administration operated a segregated payment system with a gold roll for white American workers and a silver roll for others, with separate housing and commissaries. Their descendants form a substantial part of Colón and Panama City. Saus, fufu, pati, johnnycake and coconut rice and beans are recorded as their documented culinary legacy. documented
  • French canal attempt under de Lesseps; West Indian labour is recruited and the project collapses amid enormous mortality from yellow fever and malaria. documented
  • American construction of the Panama Canal; tens of thousands of West Indian labourers work under a segregated gold-roll/silver-roll payment and commissary system, at a documented cost of thousands of lives. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • originates from Barbados Foodways documented

    ⚠ Barbados supplied the largest single national contingent of canal labour — the "Barbados Colony" — and Barbadian descent is a large part of Colón.

  • related to Caribbean documented
  • related to Jamaican Foodways documented

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.