Whilst reading an article regarding the arrival of a cruise ship anchoring on a West Indian isle, the writer of the article visited a restaurant - saltfish and plantains were ordered. The article mentioned nothing about the palatability rating of the dish, in terms of nice, unpleasant etc. – the only thing that was mentioned was the high price of the dish for the Caribbean region! Bells started to ring in my ears, that 'saltfish and plantains' were 'slave foods.

The ‘salted fish’ given to the slaves bared no resemblance to the whatever grade of‘salt fish' or salted cod’ that I recall as a child that was served in our house mostly when the island weather was stormy and the fishermen did not sail out, and on Good Fridays, when Gran prepared salted cod fish, tomatoes and chopped up watercress, with roasted bakes and cocoa tea made with coconut milk. Also, I remember accompanying my Gran to the local island shop and the shopkeeper informed her that some salt fish had arrived, he opened a thin wooden box, to reveal fine white crystals of salt coating the greyish thick cutlets of dried out looking cod fish, on the box was the printed the word ‘ salted cod Norway’. Another memory, of accompanying Gran to St Georges’ maybe aged six, and the smell of the frying of saltfish cakes from the indoor market diffusing into the open market square around midmorning, and me safely sent to the indoor market with 50 cents, I followed the aroma of chives and thyme, to the stall where I got one hot, oily salt fish cake on a slice of thick bread, I remember the lady calling me back for my change!

Now back to my opening question, colonial laws were passed due to the high death rates of early arrival slaves on the islands. The ‘salted fish’ for the slaves were imported from North America, and came in the form of ‘salted mackerel’ or ‘salted herring’, followed later down the line by ‘pickled pig snout’ in salted brine. As a child, I recall the occasional eating of smoked herrings and green bananas with of course more green bananas than herring pieces! I remember the occasional pigeon pea soup flavoured by a piece of ‘pig tail’, with again more pigeon peas than any trace of 'pig tail'!

On some of the islands, dependent on the generosity of the plantation owners, a weekly ratio of about 2lbs of salted fish and two bunches of plantains were distributed to the slaves. Slaves on punishment were given 3 plantains and water per week. The plantains were simply boiled. As a child, I do not recall any boiled plantains being served in our household, only the occasional treat of slices of fried plantains.

Now some folks may say, ‘fresh fish’ from the sea, the ‘cargo’ or ‘slaves’ were only for the night and day production of sugar cane and its products, and after all no one feeds ‘cargo’?

So back to my opening question again, at times some Caribbean folks seem very immune or dismissive of their ancestral slavery, if I try to conjure up a conversation, most Caribbean folks will tell me, ‘that was a long time ago, things have moved on’, they may ‘suck their teeth – and mumble something unpleasant’. Culinary speaking, have we moved on, how have we changed, if slavery is a dismissive issue, why are these ‘salted cod', or 'salted ling fish' or 'salted pollock fish' or meats’ be it ‘salted mackerel’ or ‘salted herring’ or ‘salted pickled pig snout’ still lustfully mouth-watering for the now ‘free folks’? Why do some island national dishes contain some form of ‘salted meat’? Why are folks still slaving to ensure no immunity of guilt for purchasing these ‘salted foods’ even today? Why are folks ensuring that the producers are still making money from this once-upon-a-time cheap 'salted' slave foods? Is that the answer to my question, once-upon-a-time… but now should these legacy of 'salted' slave foods be totally banned from Caribbean shores and unslavingly thrown out from our diet or plates? or should it be eaten as a sacrificial offering in remembrance of our enslaved ancestors - should we have a slave ancestral remembrance day? ,then we can eat as much 'salted fish or meats' as we like?