Welcome!
To Tati Miya's Cooking, our Haitian cuisine blog. This site is all about Haitian food, Haitian recipes, culinary culture and ressources as it pertains to learning how to cook Haitian food, lifestyle, entertainment and accessing ressources available in the United States, Haiti and the rest of the world about Haitian food and culture.
Haiti is one of the two countries in Latin-America which does not speak Spanish. Just like Brazil, Haitian cuisine is a land of culinary delights it is as rich and diverse as its people and history. Although the basics are the same but the cooking styles varies from one region to the next to offer their own distinct flavor. For example, the northern region adds cashew nuts in its cooking while the southern region adds coconut milk and the central region dry fish predominate. Haitian cuisine is a mixture of African, Native Indians, French and Spanish which enables it to have a unique flavor and aromas while maintaining known flavors
Giving the bounty of the New World, Haitian cooking is composed of exotic fruit, vegetables, tubers and roots such as yam, sweet potato, chayote; Spices and herbs are use carefully. Therefore, Haitian food is not hot to the tongue. Savory dishes ranges from Akasan a porridge made out of corn and Kasav that we have inheritated from the first natives; Tyaka a stew that resemble Cachupa from Cape Verde, Tom-tom like West African Foutou, Riz a Djon Djon a black rice blacken by dried mushroom which is much like Paella Negra from Spain to mouth watering gratins from our French legacy. However, dessert is almost entirely French to the exception of a few that are typical to the Latin American Caribbean cuisine. We welcome you to explore our site and hope that you'll be able to cook a Haitian meal for your family in a short span of time. No meal is done without a good choice of music, please browse the selection of classical and modern Haitian music that we have selected for you and enjoy a well deserved Haitian meal.
Haiti today
Today when one talks about Haiti they associate the country with poverty and hunger. It creates a level of discomfort to even almost being a taboo subject to discuss Haitian cuisine for, it is almost believe that Haitians as they are daily grappling with hunger they are just scrapping by to survive and hence almost has no culinary culture. As true as it is that Haiti is experiencing socio-economic problems it does not discount the fact that food culture is as alive and important to Haitians as to a Brazilian living in a favela of Rio de Janeiro, someone living in the ghetto of Spanish town, Jamaica or the Dominican Republic. Good eats is appreciated everywhere. Truth to be told is that, Haitians celebrate food and take pride in their culinary culture. From the elite to the modest home that one enters, as soon as one penetrates a Haitian home you are offered something to eat or drink. It is believe throughout Haiti that one has to always cook extra as one never know who is going to come by while dinner is being served. Food is always shared; plates are always crossing the gate line from one neighbor to the next. It is never too meager to share even when it consist of only a plate of cornmeal (polenta) perfumed with smoked herring.
