Times of the Islands Fall 2016

green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources
MACEY RAFTER
From top: Harvesting local Spiny Lobster is how many South Caicos
Islanders have earned a living for decades.
This old poster advertises the diversity of cuisine offered at the
Admirals Arms, the first hotel on South Caicos.
Typical TCI fare today includes fried fish, peas ‘n’ rice, and “cabbage”
(cole) slaw.
dance of sea life, it was reported that “food is [imported]
salt pork . . . stinking rum . . . [and] musty biscuit . . . and
now and then a guana (a sort of large lizard) when they
[the inhabitants] have time to catch them, and [that] very
often they are without bread” (Annual Register, 1765).
The lusher islands of Providenciales, and North and
Middle Caicos have certainly had more success in growing
food. However, the evidence also clearly shows that there
was never a sustained and significant production of food,
largely due to the cycles of drought and hurricane that
regularly hit the Islands. These records are punctuated
with the recurring need for authorities to provide relief
to the people of the Caicos Islands due to crop failure,
as the Administrative report from 1889 explains: “The
experience of the last ten years has shown that at least
once in three years the rainfall in the Caicos is insufficient
to nourish a crop which will feed the people who grow it,
and that it is only in about three years out of every five
that they may expect to have any surplus to dispose of in
order to procure clothing or other necessaries” (Harriott,
1889).
While local growing provided for some of the staple
needs of families, TCI found itself further integrated into
global trade during the later parts of the 20th century.
Seafood had long been exchanged for fruits and vegetables
from outside. However, a catalyst for deepening
trade came when profits from selling conch and Spiny
Lobster (Panulirusargus) to high price markets of the
United States were invested in supplying readily available,
more diverse and cheap food: as one informant noted
as “fish went out of the country, other things came in to
make the most of the trip.”
With the slow decline and eventual closure of the salt
industry by the early 1970s, tourism became the mainstay
of TCI’s economy. With this structural change, there were
quickly many more permanent and temporary residents
to feed, and a much greater demand for a wider diversity
of foods. An interesting example is the old poster in
the South Caicos airport, where an advertisement for the
first hotel on the island, the Admirals Arms, highlights
“Hungarian Specialties” and “gourmet” seafood.
Further research among contemporary stakeholders
identified that the fluctuating structures of food supply
brought significant changes to local diets. What many
people refer to as the traditional foods—such as peas
‘n’ rice or macaroni and cheese—are actually borrowings
28 www.timespub.tc