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Caribbean Cookbook Brings Tropical Flavors to American Tables

Cover of Coconut. Ginger. Shrimp. Rum.
Brigid Washington
/
Skyhorse Publishing 2017
Cover of Coconut. Ginger. Shrimp. Rum.
Cover of Coconut. Ginger. Shrimp. Rum.
Credit Brigid Washington / Skyhorse Publishing 2017
/
Skyhorse Publishing 2017
Cover of Coconut. Ginger. Shrimp. Rum.

Brigid Washington grew up with the Caribbean flavors of her family's native Trinidad. Ginger, coconut, fresh seafood and other ingredients shaped her palate and her experiences in the kitchen.

But food was not an important part of her adult life until, as a dissatisfied writer living in Raleigh, she felt compelled to walk into the kitchen of Bloomsbury Bistro and ask the chef to teach her the culinary arts. That brazen request led to culinary school and a cookbook. “Coconut. Ginger. Shrimp. Rum.: Caribbean Flavors for Every Season” (Skyhorse Publishing/2017) highlights the mainstay flavors of the islands with American fusion twists. 

Brigid Washington
Credit Brigid Washington
Brigid Washington

Guest host Anita Rao talks with Brigid Washington about the food she grew up with and how she brought it out of her memory and into North Carolina kitchens.

Guest Host Anita Rao talks with cookbook author Brigid Washington.

  Note: This program originally aired on July 27, 2017.

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio

Jennifer Brookland is a temporary producer for The State of Things.
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.