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Hindustani-Surinamese Foodways

Community

Around 34,000 indentured labourers came from British India between 1873 and 1916, chiefly from the Bhojpuri-speaking north, and their descendants are the largest single population group. Their language, SARNÁMI — a Bhojpuri koiné and the sister of Guyanese and Trinidadian Caribbean Hindustani — is still widely spoken here, unlike in Guyana. The food: ROTI with kip (the Surinamese national restaurant dish — roti, curried chicken, long bean, potato and egg on one plate); DHAL; BARA; PHULAURIE; masala and garam masala; achar; and the sweets. ⚠ SURINAMESE AND GUYANESE INDO-CARIBBEAN FOOD ARE CLOSE RELATIVES, from the same regions of India by the same route in the same decades, and the divergence is the Dutch versus British colony around them.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Hindustani Surinamese community documented

Languages: Caribbean Hindustani, Dutch, Sranan Tongo

What is recorded

  • Approximately 34,000 indentured labourers came from British India to Suriname between 1873 and 1916, chiefly from the Bhojpuri-speaking north. Sarnámi, a Bhojpuri koiné, remains widely spoken in Suriname, unlike its sister varieties in Guyana and Trinidad. Roti with chicken is documented as a national restaurant dish. documented
  • Indian indenture to Suriname: around 34,000 people from British India, arranged to replace the freed labour force. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • originates from Indian documented

    Indentured migration from British India, 1873-1916. Sarnámi is still widely spoken, unlike its Guyanese sister.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

  • related to Indo-Guyanese Foodways documented

    The same regions of India, the same route, the same decades — divided only by which European colony they landed in.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.