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The Rasta Cookbook: Vegetarian Cuisine Eaten With the Salt of the Earth : Recipes
Explains the cultural and religious basis for Ras Tafari cuisine, and includes recipes for beverages, entrees, soups, desserts, snacks, and cakes
- GenresCookbooks
132 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 28, 2008
You are what you eat is the core philosophy on which the Rastafari base their eating habits and cuisine. Nowhere is the belief that we are what we eat held more steadfastly than among the brethren of the Rastafari. This book presents, for the first time in print, a mouthwatering collection of recipes, the best of Rasta cooking. (True Rastas eat only i-tal food).
The cultural and religious basis of the cuisine are explained in full. A review of tropical fruits and vegetables is given along with this, vital information on where, how to get and to prepare the ingredients for this exotic cuisine.
If you are not familiar with what I-tal (I-tal means "vital") cooking is. The food never touches chemicals or is completely natural and not in cans. This food is cooked, but served in the rawest form possible; without salts, preservatives, or condiments.
The i-tal diet consists mainly of rice, peas and native fruits (oranges, ginger-nuts, breadfruit, watermelons, plantain, mangos, papayas, coconuts, bananas, pineapples). They mainly cook with coconut-milk and oil gained from coconuts and hemp-seeds.
They never use salt but pepper and other spice.
They never drink coffee, alcohol, soda (because they are viewed as unnatural), or milk (referred to as "white mans blood") but pure water, fruit-juice and tea. There is pages more information I could give on I-tal, but that would dredge up a religious conversation (however if you are interested e-mail me, I LOVE to educate people about my rich background!).
Meat is not a total no-no, but to be true to i-tal - no meat. Those who do eat meant are forbidden to eat pig because they are the scavengers of the earth and in reference to sea food crabs, lobster, oysters, and shrimp (the scavengers of the sea). But fish is a large part of those who eat meat's diet. The fish they eat must be small, not more than twelve inches long.
Little has been written on the true nature of Rastafari culture and even less on what it means to eat I-Tal food. This book is almost a "crash course" into the world of Rastafari.
Not to worry if you don't know what paw paw or breadfruit are - the book has a section with a visual aid so that you know what your looking for at the grocery store.
Some ingredients you may have to look a bit harder for - but most things called for are commonplace in the supermarket.
set up of recipes looks like this:
Recipe name
____________________________________
(alternate name if there is one)
Ingredients
Method
How many it serves
Recepie suggestion
Contents (recepies there-in):
Drinks
(banna punch, carrot punch, coconut punch, ginger punch, mango nectar, paw paw orange drink, peanut punch, pinneapple cordial)
Snacks And Appetizers
(akkra, plantain cakes, plantain chips, almond dip, avocado dip, aubergine fritters, carrot fritters, cornmeal fritters, fried ripe bananas, ital omelette, tomato filled avocado)
Soups
(Ackee soup, cold avocado soup, creamed breadfruit soup, curried lentil soup with coconut, peanut or groundnut soup, pumpkin and cho cho coup, red bean soup, callaloo soup, ital soup, sweetcorn soup)
Dumplings and Roti
(cornmeal dumplings, herb dumplings, fried dumplings, roti)
Main Course Dishes
(baked sweet potatoes, breadfruit in coconut sauce, callaloo with vegetables, cou cou with okra, mixed rice with vegetables, okra and aubergine, sweet corn and rice, curried ackees, pumpkin curry, cashew nut patties, fried yam cakes, millet and tofu patties, black bean stew, ital stew, lentil stew, millet and spinach stew, stewed ackees, vegetable stew with cornmeal dumplings, aubergine stuffed with cashew nuts, stuffed red peppers)
Accompaniments
(boiled green bananas, buttered sweet potato, celery and rice, fried plantain, mixed greens, rice and peas, roast breadfruit, steamed cho cho, creole sauce, hot pepper sauce, hot pepper sauce, pumpkin sauce)
Salads
(avocado salad, bean and pepper salad, beansprout salad, breadfruit mayonnaise, cabbage and carrot salad, carrot and raisin salad, fresh orange salad, jamaican salad, lentil salad, pineapple banana and tofu salad, rice salad, sweet pepper and pineapple salad)
Desserts
(baked bananas, grilled bananas, coconut tart, mango cream, cassava pone, dokono, steamed groundnut pudding, banana ice-cream, mango ice-cream, paw paw ice-cream, soya bean ice-cream, custard sauce)
Porridge
(banana porridge, cornmeal porridge, corn porridge)
Breads and Cakes
(banana and soya loaf, molasses and cornmeal bread, pumpkin bread, coconut buns, grater cakes, ital banana cake, ground rice cake)
Glossary
Helpful information from me:
How to pick out ackee
(ah-kee)
This may sound crude but any other native will probably explain it the same way. When fully ripe, ackee tend to bear a striking resemblance to a woman's genitalia.
The cultural and religious basis of the cuisine are explained in full. A review of tropical fruits and vegetables is given along with this, vital information on where, how to get and to prepare the ingredients for this exotic cuisine.
If you are not familiar with what I-tal (I-tal means "vital") cooking is. The food never touches chemicals or is completely natural and not in cans. This food is cooked, but served in the rawest form possible; without salts, preservatives, or condiments.
The i-tal diet consists mainly of rice, peas and native fruits (oranges, ginger-nuts, breadfruit, watermelons, plantain, mangos, papayas, coconuts, bananas, pineapples). They mainly cook with coconut-milk and oil gained from coconuts and hemp-seeds.
They never use salt but pepper and other spice.
They never drink coffee, alcohol, soda (because they are viewed as unnatural), or milk (referred to as "white mans blood") but pure water, fruit-juice and tea. There is pages more information I could give on I-tal, but that would dredge up a religious conversation (however if you are interested e-mail me, I LOVE to educate people about my rich background!).
Meat is not a total no-no, but to be true to i-tal - no meat. Those who do eat meant are forbidden to eat pig because they are the scavengers of the earth and in reference to sea food crabs, lobster, oysters, and shrimp (the scavengers of the sea). But fish is a large part of those who eat meat's diet. The fish they eat must be small, not more than twelve inches long.
Little has been written on the true nature of Rastafari culture and even less on what it means to eat I-Tal food. This book is almost a "crash course" into the world of Rastafari.
Not to worry if you don't know what paw paw or breadfruit are - the book has a section with a visual aid so that you know what your looking for at the grocery store.
Some ingredients you may have to look a bit harder for - but most things called for are commonplace in the supermarket.
set up of recipes looks like this:
Recipe name
____________________________________
(alternate name if there is one)
Ingredients
Method
How many it serves
Recepie suggestion
Contents (recepies there-in):
Drinks
(banna punch, carrot punch, coconut punch, ginger punch, mango nectar, paw paw orange drink, peanut punch, pinneapple cordial)
Snacks And Appetizers
(akkra, plantain cakes, plantain chips, almond dip, avocado dip, aubergine fritters, carrot fritters, cornmeal fritters, fried ripe bananas, ital omelette, tomato filled avocado)
Soups
(Ackee soup, cold avocado soup, creamed breadfruit soup, curried lentil soup with coconut, peanut or groundnut soup, pumpkin and cho cho coup, red bean soup, callaloo soup, ital soup, sweetcorn soup)
Dumplings and Roti
(cornmeal dumplings, herb dumplings, fried dumplings, roti)
Main Course Dishes
(baked sweet potatoes, breadfruit in coconut sauce, callaloo with vegetables, cou cou with okra, mixed rice with vegetables, okra and aubergine, sweet corn and rice, curried ackees, pumpkin curry, cashew nut patties, fried yam cakes, millet and tofu patties, black bean stew, ital stew, lentil stew, millet and spinach stew, stewed ackees, vegetable stew with cornmeal dumplings, aubergine stuffed with cashew nuts, stuffed red peppers)
Accompaniments
(boiled green bananas, buttered sweet potato, celery and rice, fried plantain, mixed greens, rice and peas, roast breadfruit, steamed cho cho, creole sauce, hot pepper sauce, hot pepper sauce, pumpkin sauce)
Salads
(avocado salad, bean and pepper salad, beansprout salad, breadfruit mayonnaise, cabbage and carrot salad, carrot and raisin salad, fresh orange salad, jamaican salad, lentil salad, pineapple banana and tofu salad, rice salad, sweet pepper and pineapple salad)
Desserts
(baked bananas, grilled bananas, coconut tart, mango cream, cassava pone, dokono, steamed groundnut pudding, banana ice-cream, mango ice-cream, paw paw ice-cream, soya bean ice-cream, custard sauce)
Porridge
(banana porridge, cornmeal porridge, corn porridge)
Breads and Cakes
(banana and soya loaf, molasses and cornmeal bread, pumpkin bread, coconut buns, grater cakes, ital banana cake, ground rice cake)
Glossary
Helpful information from me:
How to pick out ackee
(ah-kee)
This may sound crude but any other native will probably explain it the same way. When fully ripe, ackee tend to bear a striking resemblance to a woman's genitalia.
October 26, 2021
Not as healthy (fried food, flour and oil) or as spicy as I would like
September 8, 2009
my sweetheart really needs to eat more vegetables
its like having a kid i have to trick him into doing himself a favor, foodwise. as i told my mother, he has the eating habits of fred flinstone--like a loaf of bread and a hunk of meat and hes good for like a week as far as hes concerned. luckily hes from jamaica hes already familiar with and likes ital food and enjoys the reminder of home, so converting his carnivorous ass little by little..trying to keep him around a little longer
its like having a kid i have to trick him into doing himself a favor, foodwise. as i told my mother, he has the eating habits of fred flinstone--like a loaf of bread and a hunk of meat and hes good for like a week as far as hes concerned. luckily hes from jamaica hes already familiar with and likes ital food and enjoys the reminder of home, so converting his carnivorous ass little by little..trying to keep him around a little longer
May 3, 2008
Most of these recipes are SO SIMPLE to execute. My favorite and most frequently used recipe is for the Plantain Cakes. One downside: Measurement conversions. Not hard, but if your measuring cups and spoons on hand only read in "cups" etc, then add a few extra minutes to your preparation time.
May 6, 2012
I used to own this jewel of a book. I'd wanted to veganize some Jamaican recipes but then I found this! Even though the borrower has "lost" this book, I'm glad I had the pleasure of owning this book.
July 12, 2008
great vegan recipes
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews