I can't think of food without thinking of my grandmother, I can't think of Haiti without her coming to my mind. My grandmother was a woman born before her time, she was a feminist without even knowing that she was one, a humanitarian and a great cook. All these she did naturally in a country where women although being the backbone of the socio-economic structure are always kept in their place.
This blog is in honor of my late grandmother Miya, one of Haiti's unknown patrimony, a cook of incomparable talent a defiant woman.
Although blinded later on in her life by catarats she refused to accept her fate as a blind woman and continued to cook without the aid of anyone. Even years after her passing, her food scent perfume our lives; once in a while she makes her presence felt by honoring us with the sweet scent of sunday dinner and in those moments her memory invades the room and we all smile. Our food memories of her comes every sundays because it was the family's day to eat grandma's food.
I remember during lunch break at school, years ago when I was 8 years old my sister and I use to go to grandma's house which was close to the school to eat lunch and returning to school with our bellies filled with goodies. It is just a blessing that 30 years ago after lunch, students had to do a siesta before resuming class. Otherwise, it would have been hard to stay awake after such a great meal.
Everyone called her Miya even my mother. She was the one who taught me how to sautee liver, the perfect marinade for a steak and before her passing I was 20 years old I remember her calling me next to her as she was preparing the Haitian version of Salad Russe, dictating me on the ingredients and the key to have the perfect balance for the vinaigrette to not be acidic. She did not even possess an oven, a blender or a mixer yet, she would make the best bread, the most delicious sweet potato pudding and the best Kremass. She was special Miya, an amazing woman, she was my grandma.
I know that she is there guiding my hands every time I step in the kitchen and in this site I want to share with you her love for cooking and most of all her passion for Haitian food.Tati Miya, like we say in Haiti for someone who knows how to cook "she was a woman who possessed all her ten fingers!"
