-to put Guyana in a beautiful light
“MY BOOK is close to my heart; it is my gift to Guyana; Guyana is where my heart belongs,” says Deborah Barocas, an overseas-based Guyanese here to promote her cookbook she has in the making. While the average person would brush off such comments as something all returning overseas-based Guyanese would say, Deborah explained that being caught up with one’s own life oftentimes takes precedence, and so it takes some time before giving back to one’s home country is possible.

For this hands-on mother of two who engages her children in cooking and is a full time wife and editor of a women’s Caribbean culture website, as well as a humanitarian working with a several charities, that time for giving back has come around.

At the end of April, Deborah’s book, ‘Guyana’s Tasty Exotic’ will be made public, featuring recipes that are 75 per cent Guyanese.

A cookbook with about 90 “healthy” recipes, Deborah says her labour of just over two years will put Guyana on the food map. “I did not put the familiar moulds I saw in other cookbooks,” she said. “This is my way of merging Guyanese, American and European food cultures. It is a merging of cultures and an introduction of our fabulous foods.”

An important feature of the publication, Deborah says, is teaching people how to cook healthy, making the best of such local organic products as fresh fruits, vegetables and the like.

“There are ways to work around some recipes that are fattening and cook healthy,” Deborah said. “The book re-programmes recipes to help with healthy diets,” she added.

Noting that food culture is “a big thing” in the United States, she said Guyana has much to offer in this regard.  “Some people still don’t know much about Guyana; they hear Guyana and associate it with Jim Jones. This book will hopefully put us in a beautiful light.”

She pointed out that the book itself is different, featuring many pictures: Pictures of the foods as well as scenes from Guyana –an interesting addition for Guyanese food lovers particularly.

“I cook everything under the sun, but I always go back to Guyanese because it is my roots and I really love good old fashioned Guyanese cooking,” she said.

Lauding the efforts made by the Carnegie School of Home Economics in the food sector, the cook and author says that her work built on the foundation laid by the institution with the publication of a cookbook of their own. “My book is receptive to North America, and basically casts a wider net in terms of a target group. My cookbook has many new things.”

She pointed out that a barbecue sauce made from tamarind and ketchup and other ingredients is one of the new creations in the book.

Deborah posits that because of her love and appreciation for her roots, her book lends itself to the same, taking and reflecting much of Guyanese culture.       “It is my take on Guyanese cooking,” she says.

Stepping back a little and reflecting on her life, Deborah said:  “I love anything to do with food, whether it is cooking, eating, buying, or taking photographs of it. I can always be found in my kitchen experimenting with new ingredients and creating new recipes. When I am not cooking, I am parenting, working out in the gym, listening to music, dancing, reading, or going to the theatre. I have a great appreciation for the arts and fashion. Since I have many friends in the food industry, my ventures into farmers’ markets and restaurants are a given, and is constant. So my kitchen always smells divine, and my table is always laden with exotic foods.”

Deborah admits that of all her interests, cooking takes the cake. “Cooking and sharing food have always delighted and inspired me.  My culinary exploits began at around the time I turned nine.  As the second of seven children, I became my mother’s helper in the kitchen.  I took notes both mentally and visually, while developing skills that made Mom proud, appointing me the role of ‘Chief Cook’ to our large household.”

Continuing, she said that after moving to New York, she was intrigued by the new and various ethnic foods and cultural offerings of a new environment. “Taking advantage of a culinary smorgasbord so vast beyond compare, I immersed myself excitedly into my new society, by preparing weekly new ethnic foods and using exotic and foreign ingredients at every opportunity that presented itself. In the interim, I expanded upon my already non-discriminate palate, while developing a culinary knowledge to rival many.  Yet somehow, I always returned to what I knew best … the foods of my childhood that had comforted and created lasting memories.”

This childhood yearning, she said, aided by a few gentle nudges from close friends, led her to starting her cookbook. She laughingly recalled that she was always using a dash of this and a dash of that to make whatever meal she was putting together, and that it was when a cousin wanted to know what ‘dashes’ were needed for a particular recipe that the issue of a cookbook came up. “I was giving her the ingredients, and she said I should start a cookbook, since I had the know-how at my fingertips,” she said.

Deborah calls her skill a gift she owes to her parents. According to her, people who are creative, who are artistes in their own right, have a creative edge that cuts across the board. “In my case, I not only cook, but I paint, I design clothes, and even knit,” she said.

Still, she said that being conscious of her creative edge does not prevent her from being nervous. “I am nervous as to how the book will be received… I will be grateful if it is received well.”

Response to her initial effort to date, she says, has been very positive here in Guyana as well as in the United States and Britain. She says that engaging people, selling her product, has been a constant effort she has been undertaking. This, she said, is probably one of the reasons for the positive feedback she has received. “Not many negatives so far,” she said. “People are very excited, and they like the fact that there is some flare and exotic to our country.”

Still, the author affirms that no undertaking is without its challenges, and her foray has been no different. “It was a lot of work,” she said. “More work than I bargained for.”

Eyes taking on a glazed and unfocused look, no doubt in reflection of the memories of her endeavour, Deborah said completing her book became an obsession. So much so that she was working, after seeing her children off to bed, well into the morning hours — an effort sustained by large doses of coffee. “The sun would come up on me, and all of a sudden, I would look out and it would be light,” she said, adding: “I put my best foot forward… It was all about measuring and precision and testing…I was testing and re-testing. A lot of effort and time and dedication into it… I want to be 100 per cent proud of it.”

Her next move is another cookbook with CRICKET as the focus. Yes, cricket! According to Deborah it is Cricket, Culture and Food; a creation in the making. “I think it is something we need…My thing is that I find a niche and wedge myself into it,” she said.

In this case, that niche is cricket, which happens also
to be one of her areas of interests; in the case of food fanatics, the only thing left to do is wait for the next book. “There is room for many Guyanese cookbooks. I think people should write tons of Guyanese cookbooks,” she said.

Other new ventures, she said, include the creation of a spice line with Guyanese thyme, which she says is “the best,” being the toast of the line.

Other than that, another upcoming item on Deborah’s agenda is an International Book Fair to be held in May.

Going back to her book, she said the quintessential idea is giving Guyanese and overseas based Guyanese a good feeling “inside” and giving them something to be proud of.

“It is my gift to Guyana,” she reiterated.

At the end of my interview with Deborah, because I was not in the best of health (a flu bug or something) she shared one of her recipes with me and now, with her permission, I share it with you.

An interesting taste-preview to what’s to come in Guyana Tasty Exotic!

Creole Soup
2 green plantains, peeled and cut into 3″ pieces
1 lb eddoes (taro root), peeled and cut into 3″ pieces
1 lb cassava (yucca), peeled and cut into 3″pieces
2 lbs chuck beef, washed and cut into 3″ pieces
1 lb beef bones
1 cup yellow split peas
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp fine-leaf thyme
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 large onion, minced
4 tbsp chopped celery
2 tbsp chopped African thyme(broad-leaf thyme)
2-3 wiri-wiri peppers, whole
1 cup cubed pumpkin
2 ears of corn, each cut into 3″ pieces
2-3 blades chopped scallion
Water to cook

Method:
In a large soup pot, add split peas, beef and bones, bay leaf, celery, onions;
African thyme, fine-leaf thyme, salt, pepper, bouillon cubes, and wiri-wiri peppers.
Add enough water to cover up to 4″ above the ingredients;
Bring to a rapid boil, and reduce to a low simmer;
Cook for about 40 minutes or until meat is fork tender;
Use your pot spoon to crush hot peppers to induce a Caribbean burn on your tongue;
Add corn, plantains, cassava, eddoes, and more water to cover vegetables;
Cover and cook for 20 minutes on a medium heat;
Add pumpkin and more water if needed, cooking for another 10 minutes;
Top steaming hot soup with scallions and stir; and
Ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately with a side of crusty bread.