Well I was talking to ChatGPT and ChatGPT said the influence was both Puerto Rican and Cuban (collaboration) because when Ethiopian jazz was forming in NYC, Salsa was also taking roots in NYC. Idk how true that is but it makes sense because both Caribbean islands used to be culturally influential and shared cultures.
I have no idea about the connection between salsa and ethiojazz however I know the formation of jazz was influenced by Cuban music since the very beginning, it was influenced by habanera and son cubano.
Mulatu's first Ethio-Jazz album Afro-Latin Soul 1 & 2 was released in 1966 with his Ethiopian Quartet. His Ethiopian Quartet were actually predominately Puerto Ricans under the small New York Label Worthy.
Just a tourist and culture guy, but it's insane how much world culture in general ends up tying back to the Caribbean. It's up there with the Ancient Mediterranean and England (specifically, as opposed to Wales and Scotland) in terms of global influence relative to population or GDP.
Pirates, the expansion of Europe in general during the early modern era, the large numbers of early French, British, and American sailors and explorers who fought there or worked in government there during the 17th-19th centuries, a ton of important artists and musicians including Kool Herc, Basquiat, Pissarro, Garcia Marquez (he's from a Caribbean region of his country), the Panama Canal, the underlying Creole elements in jazz, old-school hip-hop (see Kool Herc above), Rihanna, De La Renta, etc. And add in a ton of important French, American, Canadian, and British athletes and entertainers that are at most one or two generations removed from the West Indies: Lewis Hamilton, Roberto Clemente, Sammy Sosa, Thierry Henry, Zoe Saldana, Lin-Manuel Miranda... And let's not forget appearances by so many historic figures. Nassau only has in its history: King Edward VIII, a ton of rockers who recorded at Compass Point Studios, Bob Marley, and even a brief cameo by the last Shah of Iran, who fled there after being overthrown.
I have had Nigerian, Ghanaian, Ivorian, Senegalese, Ethiopian, and Somali cuisine. I've cooked Liberian, Congolese (DRC), and Malian foods, but haven't had them in a restaurant or from a person of those backgrounds.
The best jollof rice I've ever had was from a Nigerian friend in college who sold it on Sundays. I've also made it myself and honestly, most restaurants don't compare to homemade. I really like Ghanaian waakye, which is rice and beans, spaghetti, meat, vegetables and seasoning. It seems eclectic but all the textures and elements go together well and it tastes very good. I like dibi from Senegal, which is grilled meats marinated in mustard and onions. Ivorian did not stand out to me much, attieke and grilled fish were just fine. I've tried Ethiopian many times, and it's one of my least favorite cuisines. I don't like the sour taste of injera and I feel restaurants don't expand much outside of the basic items. Doro wot (chicken stew) is okay. Somali was okay. I've had Hilib Ari (roasted goat) and chicken suqaar. Sambosas were good. I'm guessing East African cuisine isn't my favorite I suppose.
For Liberia I made potato leaf stew. Not a fan, the bitterness was unpleasant. For Congolese, I made peanut butter soup, also known as Mafe. This dish is present across West and Central Africa, but it's VERY good and savory. I also made Labadja from Mali, which is a beef and rice dish stewed with dates and aromatics. It was amazing.
I'm Jamaican. Our cuisine in my eyes is bold, flavorful, and expressive. There are some similarities in cooking methods like stewing, one-pot dishes, and layered seasoning. However, I notice some African cuisines are very stew-based, especially Nigeria and DRC. Waakye from Ghana is said to be the precedent of rice and peas, and I can see that. Senegal and Ivory Coast have a strong emphasis on seafood, though a lot of African dishes seem to eat the fish fried. I think Jamaican definitely enjoy steamed fish more (although I'm not a big seafood fan myself).
There is so much emphasis on starchy sides. Yams, cassava, and swallows are common staples. Although I do like fufu and pounded yam, I can never get into cassava or yam fries, just too dry. I also notice that Africans tend to cut their plantains in different ways, often into small cube-like pieces. Jamaicans generally cut it in regular circular or ovalur pieces and fry it like that. Ethiopian leans more vegetarian. Somali cuisine seems balanced to me, like a strong mix of East African, Indian, and Italian influence. I love their tea culture.
I would say Jamaican cuisine is a lot more balanced overall than most of these cuisines. Some dishes are spicier to my palate. The only thing I consider spicy in the African cuisines I've tried is Ghanaian shito (a sauce blend of peppers and dried shrimp). To me, West African tastes more hearty and savory. Central African tastes earthy, and East African leans more sour. This is just a generalization. All of these cuisines have a lot more nuance to them, and there's many more foods I want to try from them all. Due to Jamaica's colonial history, I think we have done a good job preserving our African knowledge and techniques while incorporating our various influences. Some of my favorite foods are spicy beef patties, curried goat, jerk chicken, festival, and pumpkin rice. If you ask me, we make everything taste good.
I definitely want to eat more foods from every country in Africa and I look forward to visiting them all.
It is definitely flavourful, but myself & my family members even extended don’t have a good tolerance for spicy food, and if you’re at a gathering and food is being served for a bunch of people it wouldn’t be made hot. It can be made spicy but I wouldn’t say the average Jamaican has a good or high tolerance for spice.
I had some Ethiopian food, I liked that you eat with the bread. Kind of like Mexican food. It was Ok but not great. I do want to try fufu though, I’m curious how it compares to mofongo and mangu
Mozambique has a dish called Matapa, which is very close to Callaloo (not the Jamaican kind) and very similar fruits (mango, sugar apple, soursop, etc). All the food we had in Mozambique was delicious and same for South Africa. I would return to both countries to eat.
Kenya is the only one where I didn't enjoy the food. The meat was too hard and the flavors weren't as appetizing. We had a friend visit after us, and they loved the food so it really depends on everyone's personal taste.
I had Crain crain from Sierra leone. It was amazing. Also I had Ethiopian, Moroccan and Egyptian food. Enjoyed all of them. People who look over african cuisines are missing out in my opinion. I did noticed they fry a lot of plantains in west african cuisines similar to a lot of Caribbean cuisines. Although, west african cuisines are spicer like you mentioned. Not sure if that's where I inherited my love of spicy food.
Yeah I eat Nigerian food regularly and love it. Jollof is great and I love the meat stews. Ghanaian food is also great, but I prefer Nigerian style jollof, maybe just because I'm more familiar with it.
Ethiopian food is incredible... the mosty unique national cuisine I've ever had. The spice blends are really distinctive and injera bread is amazing.
Moroccan food I could east all day. Full flavoured but not highly spiced, often quite rich. Good pastries... I love a pastilla.
Yes, the mafé was very good. There's another West African dish I ate, but I've forgotten the name.
I also ate some Malagasy dishes; they were really very good, but I was very surprised that they made accras (fritters) just like we do. Other dishes had similarities to ours; it was surprising, but unfortunately, I don't remember everything.
There was a rice dish with a coconut chicken sauce that I remember.
Over the last few years I’ve started realizing how diverse Guyanese food is. Previously I was just eating and not thinking about the historical significance behind each of the dishes.
Conkie, metemgee and cook up rice are all foods that use Ghanian staple ingredients. They don’t taste exactly the same as their counterparts from my Ghanian friend’s house but we still bond over how much overlap there is.
I've eaten Nigerian food and it's great not too different. I have never tried but seen other dishes from Morocco, Algeria, and Ethiopia and it all looks great
I've tried Nigerian food only.
Jolloff rice - very tasty.
Fufu - not for me.
Red stew with chicken and oxtails - delicious
The bakery loaf bread - delicious
The stew and bakery bread is similar to my island.
St. Croix.
I think you may be talking about Agege Bread? If so a Jamaican man named Amos Shackleford brought the recipe over there and started selling it in his bakery in the 1920s. It's very similar to Hardo Bread which is probably why it tastes similar.
I haven't been able to try food from every country, but I have had a few. Pretty much everything what I tried so far is different (and spicier!) from my local cuisine, but there are some, like the okro, that feel familiar.
Seconded in the Ghanaian food. I found a food truck out in the wild yhe other day and a lot of it just looked like Cuban food 😂 i got like tostones and some beef sort of thing and it was great! Just like something id eat at home.
Ethiopian food definitely has some similarities to indo-Caribbean cusines
Ethiopian jazz is also indirectly related to the Caribbean
Are you talking about the Cuban influence on jazz?
Well I was talking to ChatGPT and ChatGPT said the influence was both Puerto Rican and Cuban (collaboration) because when Ethiopian jazz was forming in NYC, Salsa was also taking roots in NYC. Idk how true that is but it makes sense because both Caribbean islands used to be culturally influential and shared cultures.
I have no idea about the connection between salsa and ethiojazz however I know the formation of jazz was influenced by Cuban music since the very beginning, it was influenced by habanera and son cubano.
Okay well check this out I’ve just found this
u/Cool_Bananaquit9
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQHj4eqCKR2/
This also talks about it
https://selamta.ethiopianairlines.com/inspiration/a-brief-history-of-ethiojazz-for-the-musically-curious/
u/Cool_Bananaquit9
u/Cool_Bananaquit9
Just a tourist and culture guy, but it's insane how much world culture in general ends up tying back to the Caribbean. It's up there with the Ancient Mediterranean and England (specifically, as opposed to Wales and Scotland) in terms of global influence relative to population or GDP.
Such as?
Except the obvious ones I mean.
Pirates, the expansion of Europe in general during the early modern era, the large numbers of early French, British, and American sailors and explorers who fought there or worked in government there during the 17th-19th centuries, a ton of important artists and musicians including Kool Herc, Basquiat, Pissarro, Garcia Marquez (he's from a Caribbean region of his country), the Panama Canal, the underlying Creole elements in jazz, old-school hip-hop (see Kool Herc above), Rihanna, De La Renta, etc. And add in a ton of important French, American, Canadian, and British athletes and entertainers that are at most one or two generations removed from the West Indies: Lewis Hamilton, Roberto Clemente, Sammy Sosa, Thierry Henry, Zoe Saldana, Lin-Manuel Miranda... And let's not forget appearances by so many historic figures. Nassau only has in its history: King Edward VIII, a ton of rockers who recorded at Compass Point Studios, Bob Marley, and even a brief cameo by the last Shah of Iran, who fled there after being overthrown.
Jollof rice is delicious
The question is whose jollof rice???? 😏
Oh lord. You’re the virtual “I don’t want peace. I want problems. Always”. I have had Nigerian jollof. Haven’t tried anyone else’s but am open to it
Let me simmer down. But try Congo DRC jollof
Agree!
Sorrel.
Is from Africa???
Yes it’s Called Zobo.
Wowzers. I never knew this. I looked it up. Yup its sorrel.
Moroccan , Nigerian, Ethiopian. All great. Enjoyed Ethiopian tradition of eating with the bread and in a shared tray.
I have had Nigerian, Ghanaian, Ivorian, Senegalese, Ethiopian, and Somali cuisine. I've cooked Liberian, Congolese (DRC), and Malian foods, but haven't had them in a restaurant or from a person of those backgrounds.
The best jollof rice I've ever had was from a Nigerian friend in college who sold it on Sundays. I've also made it myself and honestly, most restaurants don't compare to homemade. I really like Ghanaian waakye, which is rice and beans, spaghetti, meat, vegetables and seasoning. It seems eclectic but all the textures and elements go together well and it tastes very good. I like dibi from Senegal, which is grilled meats marinated in mustard and onions. Ivorian did not stand out to me much, attieke and grilled fish were just fine. I've tried Ethiopian many times, and it's one of my least favorite cuisines. I don't like the sour taste of injera and I feel restaurants don't expand much outside of the basic items. Doro wot (chicken stew) is okay. Somali was okay. I've had Hilib Ari (roasted goat) and chicken suqaar. Sambosas were good. I'm guessing East African cuisine isn't my favorite I suppose.
For Liberia I made potato leaf stew. Not a fan, the bitterness was unpleasant. For Congolese, I made peanut butter soup, also known as Mafe. This dish is present across West and Central Africa, but it's VERY good and savory. I also made Labadja from Mali, which is a beef and rice dish stewed with dates and aromatics. It was amazing.
I'm Jamaican. Our cuisine in my eyes is bold, flavorful, and expressive. There are some similarities in cooking methods like stewing, one-pot dishes, and layered seasoning. However, I notice some African cuisines are very stew-based, especially Nigeria and DRC. Waakye from Ghana is said to be the precedent of rice and peas, and I can see that. Senegal and Ivory Coast have a strong emphasis on seafood, though a lot of African dishes seem to eat the fish fried. I think Jamaican definitely enjoy steamed fish more (although I'm not a big seafood fan myself).
There is so much emphasis on starchy sides. Yams, cassava, and swallows are common staples. Although I do like fufu and pounded yam, I can never get into cassava or yam fries, just too dry. I also notice that Africans tend to cut their plantains in different ways, often into small cube-like pieces. Jamaicans generally cut it in regular circular or ovalur pieces and fry it like that. Ethiopian leans more vegetarian. Somali cuisine seems balanced to me, like a strong mix of East African, Indian, and Italian influence. I love their tea culture.
I would say Jamaican cuisine is a lot more balanced overall than most of these cuisines. Some dishes are spicier to my palate. The only thing I consider spicy in the African cuisines I've tried is Ghanaian shito (a sauce blend of peppers and dried shrimp). To me, West African tastes more hearty and savory. Central African tastes earthy, and East African leans more sour. This is just a generalization. All of these cuisines have a lot more nuance to them, and there's many more foods I want to try from them all. Due to Jamaica's colonial history, I think we have done a good job preserving our African knowledge and techniques while incorporating our various influences. Some of my favorite foods are spicy beef patties, curried goat, jerk chicken, festival, and pumpkin rice. If you ask me, we make everything taste good.
I definitely want to eat more foods from every country in Africa and I look forward to visiting them all.
I wouldn’t consider Jamaican cuisine overall spicy. Jerk chicken & even then in Jamaica it’s not spicy especially depending on the sauce.
I guess I should it's overall very flavored. Only select items can be spicy, however, scotch bonnet is used in many dishes.
It is definitely flavourful, but myself & my family members even extended don’t have a good tolerance for spicy food, and if you’re at a gathering and food is being served for a bunch of people it wouldn’t be made hot. It can be made spicy but I wouldn’t say the average Jamaican has a good or high tolerance for spice.
Love me some Nigerian food!! But besides that no. Tried Moroccan food hard no lol
I had some Ethiopian food, I liked that you eat with the bread. Kind of like Mexican food. It was Ok but not great. I do want to try fufu though, I’m curious how it compares to mofongo and mangu
I've gone to Kenya, Mozambique, and South Africa.
Mozambique has a dish called Matapa, which is very close to Callaloo (not the Jamaican kind) and very similar fruits (mango, sugar apple, soursop, etc). All the food we had in Mozambique was delicious and same for South Africa. I would return to both countries to eat.
Kenya is the only one where I didn't enjoy the food. The meat was too hard and the flavors weren't as appetizing. We had a friend visit after us, and they loved the food so it really depends on everyone's personal taste.
I had Crain crain from Sierra leone. It was amazing. Also I had Ethiopian, Moroccan and Egyptian food. Enjoyed all of them. People who look over african cuisines are missing out in my opinion. I did noticed they fry a lot of plantains in west african cuisines similar to a lot of Caribbean cuisines. Although, west african cuisines are spicer like you mentioned. Not sure if that's where I inherited my love of spicy food.
I haven't but looking at pictures, a lot of it does look similar to Caribbean food, especially the ones from western Africa.
It is literally the same. Even some words are the same: ñyame is used in DR and Congo
Ohh I didn't know that.
Go to an Tanzanian or Congolese grocery store. There will be words that you know in the produce section!!!!
Ñame is a Spanish word, it’s not unique to DR
It’s Swahili too
Yeah I eat Nigerian food regularly and love it. Jollof is great and I love the meat stews. Ghanaian food is also great, but I prefer Nigerian style jollof, maybe just because I'm more familiar with it.
Ethiopian food is incredible... the mosty unique national cuisine I've ever had. The spice blends are really distinctive and injera bread is amazing.
Moroccan food I could east all day. Full flavoured but not highly spiced, often quite rich. Good pastries... I love a pastilla.
Yes, the mafé was very good. There's another West African dish I ate, but I've forgotten the name.
I also ate some Malagasy dishes; they were really very good, but I was very surprised that they made accras (fritters) just like we do. Other dishes had similarities to ours; it was surprising, but unfortunately, I don't remember everything.
There was a rice dish with a coconut chicken sauce that I remember.
I’m Indo-Caribbean from Guyana.
Over the last few years I’ve started realizing how diverse Guyanese food is. Previously I was just eating and not thinking about the historical significance behind each of the dishes.
Conkie, metemgee and cook up rice are all foods that use Ghanian staple ingredients. They don’t taste exactly the same as their counterparts from my Ghanian friend’s house but we still bond over how much overlap there is.
Ghanaian food? Not spicy? What?
Lol I meant that Ghanaian food is spicy while Puerto Rican isnt at all. My sentence does seem weird.
Ahhh, ok.
I tried ethiopian food once. The taste of injera bread was unlike anything I've ever tried in curaçao or anywhere else.
Pretty nice food
Cape Verdean food is the best.
Ethiopian food is great. I love the injera and their drink tej. I love how they make their vegetables too. Lamb is awesome.
Jollof rice is 🔥🔥
That’s all that I’ve tried so far.
I like Senegalese food the best. Not really similar at all but great.
I've eaten Nigerian food and it's great not too different. I have never tried but seen other dishes from Morocco, Algeria, and Ethiopia and it all looks great
I've tried Nigerian food only. Jolloff rice - very tasty. Fufu - not for me. Red stew with chicken and oxtails - delicious The bakery loaf bread - delicious
The stew and bakery bread is similar to my island. St. Croix.
I think you may be talking about Agege Bread? If so a Jamaican man named Amos Shackleford brought the recipe over there and started selling it in his bakery in the 1920s. It's very similar to Hardo Bread which is probably why it tastes similar.
I haven't been able to try food from every country, but I have had a few. Pretty much everything what I tried so far is different (and spicier!) from my local cuisine, but there are some, like the okro, that feel familiar.
Seconded in the Ghanaian food. I found a food truck out in the wild yhe other day and a lot of it just looked like Cuban food 😂 i got like tostones and some beef sort of thing and it was great! Just like something id eat at home.
😂🤣😂🤣😂 I knew ANY answer was going to cause problems. I’ll add it to my “to try” list
I tried Nigerian dishes like jollof rice and egusi soup I'm trying to expand tho what do ppl recommend
Quick pass, not my cup of tea!
Why?
the entire continent?
Im not going down that road and I respectfully pass!
You could have kept your ignorance to yourself so don’t try to “high road” this by “not going down that road”.
Ok Jesus Christ, thank you for your insight!
Why?
Just not my thing.
But how would you know? And why enter the conversation with a negative? Just scroll and read….scroll and read…
Yeah. I’m Italian. So it’s not that fly.
It’s ok - it’s nice, nice, not thrilling, but nice.
I believe the question was directed to Caribbean’s to answer lol
Fair call.
kinda tastes like shit i mean i saw on ig african tribes eating monkey brains n sheet