WINDRUSH FOOD CULTURE
FROM THE MARGINS TO THE MAINSTREAM.
Recognition, Revolution and the Flavours of Belonging. A Story of Survival, Belonging and Joy — Told Through Taste
Roots
The Original Caribbeans
Before the Ship —
The Caribbean Kitchen Begins
The Caribbean kitchen began long before Windrush. Its flavours were born from Indigenous communities with rich cultural traditions. These societies were deeply connected to the natural environment of the islands, using its resources for food, shelter, and spiritual life.
The Caribbean islands have long benefitted from a diverse agricultural landscape, thanks to warm climates and fertile soils. Crops like cassava, maize, sweet potato, taro, guava, papaya, and pineapple flourished in abundance
Arrival
Coming to Britain — Recipes, Seeds and Memory
When Caribbean migrants arrived in Britain after WWII, they brought more than suitcases.
They brought taste memories — mangoes from a backyard tree, bun and cheese on Good Friday, the smell of jerk from a tin drum on hot amber coals.
In cold kitchens and crowded flats, they adapted. Saltfish was bought in Brixton. Curry powder stood in for fresh pepper. Recipes changed, but the spirit and determination remained.
Food became warmth and comfort in a cold country. It was through food that Caribbeans began building communities — uplifting and supporting one another through hard times.
Making a Life
Markets, Windrush Women, Kitchens — Building Through Food
Markets like Ridley Road, Brixton, and Russell’s Supermarket became lifelines where connection, understanding, and togetherness flourished.
Industrious Windrush women, young and old, turned kitchens into businesses — baking for weddings, cooking for church halls, feeding the block from pots too big for the stove.
Food built community.
Sunday dinners became sacred rituals. The smells of thyme, garlic, pimento, spices, and stew escaped through the windows of houses, dwellings and gardens, filling the streets with Caribbean aromas.
Out of scarcity came legacy.
These kitchens cooked Britain into something new.
Taking to
the Streets
From Jerk Pans to Carnival Stalls — Food as Culture
This was not just eating.
It was presence.
It was performance.
It was power.
With jerk pans made from oil drums, there was nothing this generation couldn’t do. Windrush cooks turned pavements into kitchens.
Smoke rose. Music played. Queues formed. This was protest, pride, joy — and pepper sauce — all served with love and the intention to always look out for one another.
At Carnival, church, and blues dances — food soothed and nourished.
Corn soup warmed the soul. Curry goat filled bellies. Patties passed through hatches — hot, flaky, turmeric yellow like the sun — became symbols of home.
From the
Margins to the
Mainstream
Recognition, Revolution and
the Flavours of Belonging
Today, plantain is in supermarkets. Jerk sauce lines the shelves. Caribbean cookbooks win awards. Recipes appear in mainstream media.
But recognition wasn’t gifted — it was cooked into existence.
By Windrush generations who seasoned through struggle and pain, so that some of us could carry the torch today.
From Rastafari ital stews to vegan patties, the Caribbean kitchen continues to evolve — led by elders, reimagined by the next generation, grown in love, rooted in joy.
Caribbean food is no longer at the edge of the plate.
It is central to British culture —
Windrush culture — and always has been.
FOOD IS POWER
Memory Passed Through Hands. History Served on a Plate.
Windrush Food Culture is a living archive — families fed, borders crossed, traditions held through fire and faith.
To cook is to remember.
To share is to survive.
To eat is to belong.
Carry the story forward.
Cook it. Teach it. Taste it again.
Because Caribbean food is not just what we eat.
It’s who we are — and what we stand for.
Windrush Kitchen
& Dining Room
The Heart of the Home
The Windrush kitchen was the workshop of survival and the studio of taste.
In small flats and shared houses, the legendary Dutchpot simmered oxtail. The pressure cooker hissed with gungo peas. Rice was washed three times until the water ran clear. Ingredients were improvised; techniques were sacred.
Seasoning lived in the hand and the eye — a ‘likkle bit’ more thyme, a splash of browning, a dash of pepper sauce.
TASTE MAKERS
Windrush Chefs, Food Entrepreneurs & Icons.
Food was one of the first languages of Windrush Britain. In cafés, church halls, takeaways and television studios, Caribbean cooks and culinary leaders turned family flavour into public culture — and into business.
They turned patties and pepper sauce into stories of pride, resilience, and economic power.
Featured Icons:
• Rustie Lee — Pioneer of Flavour & Laughter
• Wade Lyn CBE — Island Delight Patties
• Levi Roots — The Sauce That Sang a Nation
• Michael Caines MBE is a renowned Michelin-starred British chef and restaurateur
• Andi Oliver — Chef, Broadcaster, Curator
• Ainsley Harriott — TV’s Caribbean Comfort King
• Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones — The Black Farmer
• Lorraine Pascale — Elegance in Every Bake
• Caribbean Takeaway Legends — The High Street Heroes
• Jerk Pan Masters & Carnival Cooks — Street-Level Innovators
• Windrush Elders (Grandmas’ hands)
• Future Plate -a collective of leading Black chefs and culinary creatives celebrating African and Caribbean cuisine through immersive dining experiences, cultural storytelling, and high-profile collaborations including Julian George (founder), Jason Howard, Opeoluwa “Opy” Odutayo, William Chilia, and Daniel Rampat.
• Ryan Matheson is a Jamaican-born chef with over 25 years of experience who now serves as an Executive Chef.