So, we were knocking about the house. bored out of our mind. I mean, we all were. Thanks Covid! The governor had “kind of” restricted us to our homes. Well, sort of. He suggested it and then had deferred power to the local town mayors. Many of whom were elected with just a few thousand votes. And in no way qualified to impose martial law or guide us through a global pandemic. And the town mayors in turn handed that power to our county mayor. Our county mayor (who I had no idea even existed prior to covid) did in fact impose tough restriction rules. Safer at home. Restaurants closed. Nary an open bar in sight. Good things county mayors have more power and leadership courage then our town mayor, state governor, or US president. At least someone was willing to go on record and make a tough call.
We were trying to decide if we should do a global cook for 2020. After all, Christmas was cancelled! Out of an abundance of caution. We thought about it and our answer was, HELL YEAH. Frick covid right in the eye. Let’s do this!
So we unleashed the power of Haitian cooking and made it happen. Fun fact, this was the last Internal Cook featuring meat products. In 2019 we went pescatarian. In 2020 we went vegetarian/vegan.
I know you will ask. I’m surprised you’re not asking right now. Why the hell did you go vegan? Are you communists? (No, we love America very much). Do you hate animals? (No, meat is delicious). We came to it for three reasons.
1) Commercial/industrialized farming is incredibly wasteful and very bad for the environment. Pound for pound, eating meatless is more impactful to global warming then driving a hybrid for 5 years.
2) Industrial farming is cruel to animals and makes them suffer needlessly. Cows don’t eat corn. Cows like grass (and sunlight). Cows like to actually move. All things that are unavailable in commercial feedlots. And then they die cruelly.
3) Over-consumption of saturated fat from animal products is really bad for your arteries. So there. Now we are vegan-ish. I will make exception for an occasional egg or a slice of pizza. But otherwise, tofu and vegetables are my friends.
We found that Haitian cuisine lent itself to vegetable-forward cooking very nicely. Beef was easily to sub with veggie crumbles. Not much cheese present. Butter was easy to sub with olive oil. All in all, Haiti was a ton of fun to cook and the meal was delicious and flavorful. And no one missed all that nasty fat. Lords and ladies, we give you Haiti.
International Cooking Holiday 