Windrush descendants celebrate how Caribbean cuisine changed British food
A chef, a grocer and Britain’s only black farmer have spoken of the profound impact the Windrush generation has had on the nation’s culinary habits.
Thursday marks the 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush arriving in Britain on 22 June 1948, carrying 500 of the first wave of post-war Caribbean immigrants.
When the Windrush generation first started to arrive on British shores, there would have been a lot for them to get used to.
The cold, the fog and almost certainly the food.
“All that was available was short grain rice, and that wasn’t very nice,” says Collin Mitchell, who runs one of the first Caribbean supermarkets to be established in Nottingham, founded by his dad, Clifton, in 1955.
“People wanted their own food, they wanted their plantain, sweet potato, yam that kind of thing; their Dahseen and cassava.”
But in order to provide these tropical goods, his father would first have to work down the mines – facing challenges and discrimination on the way.
“There was a cultural barrier, trying to get through with the bank to get financing and so on was not easy,” Colin told Sky News.
Neither was getting hands on the produce.
“He would have to get up very early in the morning and travel to Liverpool docks, just to get the produce and bring it back. So he spent many hours on the road.”
Now, 70 years after Clifton set up his shop, it is still a staple of the community in Alfreton Road, Nottingham.
But as the demographic of the community has changed, so has his customers.
Colin says it’s still a place, a community hub of sorts, where people compare recipes from all over the Caribbean.
But now the shop also gets visitors from all different backgrounds.
“It’s probably one of the fastest-growing trends. They taste the food, that decides [if] they want to try and cook it”, he said.
Chef Kiesha Sakrah says food keeps people connected to their culture and traditions
Kiesha Sakrah is a chef currently working on a book about the history of Caribbean food and its influence on British culture.
She says that without the Windrush pioneers who introduced these foods to Britain, “we wouldn’t be able to stay connected to our culture”.
“It’s those foods that kept us connected to those traditions and just everything that my grandparents refer to as a ‘back home’,” she told Sky News.
The Caribbean-inspired drink and food industry is now estimated to be worth around £115m
She says the contributions that generation made “sometimes go unnoticed”.
“The contributions that generation has made to the UK as a whole today is massive. They really have contributed to the fabric of the UK.”
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE is the first black farmer in the country, providing produce to major supermarkets.
Britain’s first black farmer, Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones MBE, joined his parents after they settled in Birmingham
Food has always played a huge part in his life.
In fact, because he joined his parents a few years after they had settled in Birmingham, his mum’s cooking was one of the few things he recognised.
“Things that were familiar were quite important,” says Wilfred.
“And the only thing that was familiar was the type of foods that I would be having back in Jamaica”.
Traditional Caribbean food allows people to stay connected to their culture as well as influencing British cuisine
Later, he says “as a way of supplementing the family income” he would help his dad out on the allotment.
“This allotment really became my oasis, away from the misery of living in inner city Birmingham at the time.
“And I remember making a promise to myself that one day I’d like to my own farm.”
It would take decades to achieve, but now that Caribbean boy who travelled here decades ago sells the most typically British product.
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Alford Gardner told Sky News there was ‘lots’ of discrimination upon his arrival in the UK
“The Black Farmer really got our reputation from our sausages,” says Wilfred.
“I decided I wanted to be very mainstream, and I thought: ‘Well, what is it that everybody in this country loves?’ Everybody loves the sausage.”
And now, thanks to him, its also available jerked – a true fusion of British and Jamaican cuisine.
The Caribbean-inspired drink and food industry is now estimated to be worth around £115m.
But Wilfred thinks it should be even bigger.
Read more:
The descendants of the Windrush generation who changed Britain
New 50p coin to mark 75th anniversary of Windrush arrivals
How Windrush scandal changed the course of landmark game
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Windrush victims compensation battle
He hopes his story, as well as those who came before him, will inspire younger generations to follow in their entrepreneurial footsteps.
“It takes a lot of courage to leave everything you are familiar with, everything that you know, to come to another country, to better your life.
“So being an entrepreneur is very much a part of our DNA. Because for everyone that came, there’s a lot more that didn’t have the courage to do that,” he added.
“I think it’s very, very important, especially on something like the 75th anniversary of Windrush Day to remind people that it was a very brave entrepreneurial thing to do.”
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UK
‘It’s just nasty’: Birmingham residents ‘overwhelmed’ by foul stench and massive rats as bins strike rumbles on
In parts of Birmingham, the stench is overwhelming – enough to make you heave.
At a block of flats in Highgate, in Birmingham city centre, we find a mountain of bin liners full of rubbish spewing out of the cavernous bin store, which is normally locked.
Mickel comes out to speak to us, while all around bin liners lie open, with the contents for all to see, including used nappies and rotting food.
Mickel says they’ve had ‘foxes and rats, literally the size of cats’
Outside Mickel’s flat in Highgate, bin liners lie open, spewing out rubbish
We both find it hard to keep talking amid the awful smell.
“We’ve had foxes and rats, literally the size of cats, flies, it’s just nasty, something needs to be done,” he says.
Chris says the situation is ‘overwhelming’ as she’s ‘terrified of rats’
Around the corner, I meet Chris, in her dressing gown, popping the bins into her bin store beneath her flat before work.
She unlocks it, and although it isn’t bursting out on to the street yet, it is getting full.
She says the situation is “overwhelming” as she’s “terrified of rats”. But, even so, she has sympathy for the striking bin workers.
“It’s not an easy job; they must have a heart of gold to do that job,” she says.
“Pay them whatever they need, they deserve it.”
Striking bin workers at Lifford Lane tip, south of the city centre
There’s an awful smell coming from a mountain of bin liners outside Mickel’s flat in Highgate
At Lifford Lane tip, south of the city centre, Brigette has pulled up alongside picketing workers. The back seat of her car is full of rubbish.
She apologises for the terrible waft, mixed with air freshener.
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Bin workers strike explained
“It’s very pungent, isn’t it? Not nice,” she admits.
“It’s unfortunate, I have some sympathies for all the parties, but, equally, we have a duty of care to stay clean and tidy.”
She says she has her rubbish and that of her elderly aunt and plans to make weekly trips to the tip until a resolution in this pay dispute between the council and the Unite union is found.
UK
‘US is our closest ally’, Jonathan Reynolds says in reaction to Trump tariffs – but ‘nothing off the table’
The US is “our closest ally” but “nothing is off the table” in response to Donald Trump’s 10% tariffs on imports from the UK, the business secretary has said.
In a statement following the US president’s nearly hour-long address to the world, Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “We will always act in the best interests of UK businesses and consumers.
“That’s why, throughout the last few weeks, the government has been fully focused on negotiating an economic deal with the United States that strengthens our existing fair and balanced trading relationship.”
Follow the latest following Trump’s tariffs announcement
Mr Reynolds reiterated the statements from the prime minister and his cabinet over the past few days, saying the US is “our closest ally”, and the government’s approach is to “remain calm and committed to doing this deal, which we hope will mitigate the impact of what has been announced today”.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says “nothing is off the table” following the tariffs announcement. Pic: PA
But he continued: “We have a range of tools at our disposal, and we will not hesitate to act. We will continue to engage with UK businesses, including on their assessment of the impact of any further steps we take.
“Nobody wants a trade war, and our intention remains to secure a deal. But nothing is off the table, and the government will do everything necessary to defend the UK’s national interest.”
‘Get back round the negotiating table’, say Tories
The Conservative Party’s shadow business and trade secretary described the US president’s announcement as “disappointing news which will worry working families across the country”.
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Sky’s Ed Conway examines how economies across the world are impacted by tariffs
Andrew Griffith hit out at the government for having “failed to negotiate with President Trump’s team for too many months after the election, failed to keep our experienced top trade negotiator, and failed to get a deal to avoid the imposition of these tariffs by our closest trading partner”.
“The chancellor’s emergency budget of just a week ago with its inadequate headroom is now at risk, casting uncertainty about more taxes or spending cuts,” he continued. “Sadly, it is British businesses and workers who will pay the price for Labour’s failure.”
He called on ministers to “swallow their pride” and “get back round the negotiating table to agree a fair deal to protect jobs and consumers in both the UK and the US alike”.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has reacted furiously to Mr Trump’s announcement of a “destructive trade war”, and called on the government to stand up against “Trump’s attempts to divide and rule”.
“The prime minister should bring our Commonwealth and European partners together in a coalition of the willing against Trump’s tariffs, using retaliatory tariffs where necessary and signing new trade deals with each other where possible.”
Speaking on Wednesday evening at a White House event entitled ‘Make America Wealthy Again’, the US president unleashed sweeping tariffs across the globe.
Mr Trump held up a chart detailing the worst offenders – which also showed the new tariffs the US would be imposing.
The UK’s rate of 10% was perhaps a shot across the bow over the 20% VAT rate, though the president’s suggested a 10% tariff imbalance between the two nations. Nonetheless, tariffs of 10% could directly reduce UK GDP by between 0.01% and 0.06%, according to Capital Economics.
A 25% duty on all car imports from around the world is also being imposed from midnight in the US – 5am on Thursday, UK time.
Read more:
World reacts to Trump’s tariff announcement
Tariffs will have consequences for globalisation, the US economy and geopolitics
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The UK government had been hoping to negotiate an economic deal with the US in a bid to avoid the tariffs, but to no avail. The government says negotiations will continue.
The Confederation of British Industry said “negotiating stronger trading relationships with all like-minded partners will be foundational to any success”.
The business secretary is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday, and we are also expecting to hear from the prime minister.
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