That's according to Ramin Ganeshram, journalist, chef, and author of the cookbook Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago. Smoke carries the aromas of cooking meat and the earthy, warming flavors of allspice. It interlaces with the bright flavors and tender bite of vinegar-marinated escovitch fish; it wraps its arms around friends and families gathering by a fire. The Caribbean is the keeper of one of the world's oldest barbecuing traditions, and smoke has always been at the heart of it.
Most food scholars say that the Taino, an Indigenous people who inhabited various Caribbean islands, including Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, were responsible for creating the first documented examples of the cooking technique we now call barbecue. The Taino people had a system: They'd dig a firepit and make a grate of green wood lashed with fibers, says Ganeshram. They started a slow fire in the firepit, placed the meat to be cooked on the wood frame above the fire, and called the process barabicu, which means "sacred pit." European colonizers were the first to document some of these traditions, observing Indigenous people slowly cooking fish, vegetables, and iguanas (a delicacy) on raised platforms above smoldering fires. The Taino word barabicu gave rise to the Spanish term barbacoa, which eventually made its way into English as barbecue.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Cabin Cool
Situated between a picturesque estuary and the sea, this South African family cottage combines a crisp update on cabin design with old-fashioned boathouse style
GROOVING ON THE GULF
Talk about a fresh catch.
Best Places To Live on the Coast 2025
When it comes to beaches, local life, climate resilience, and straight-up beauty, we've located the 10 best places to cozy up to the water's edge, from East Coast to West, the Great Lakes to the Gulf
easy does it
Florida-based designer Caitlin Kah gives a sunny spin to a home with a decidedly Southern accent
SPRING'S ONE-PLATE WONDER
Combining salmon and beans with the peppery crunch of arugula, this brightly flavored meal goes from weeknights to entertaining-and it's healthy!
The Little Beach Town That Changed the World
Nearly 45 years ago, a visionary couple launched a community along a stretch of Florida coast where they'd inherited some land. That development-Seaside-spawned sister developments at Rosemary and Alys beaches and launched New Urbanism as a design movement that has swept the coast from the Lowcountry to the Olympic Peninsula. As Alys Beach celebrates its 20th anniversary and Seaside looks to its 45th in 2026, TRACEY MINKIN checks in with the movement's founders and inheritors as those dreams turn the corner to the future
THE CRADLE OF BARBECUE
CELEBRATING THE ROOTS AND EVOLUTION OF CARIBBEAN BARBECUE
COOL BEANS
BEST OF THE COAST
A STUDY IN CONTRASTS
A DESIGNER REIMAGINED A WATERFRONT MEDITERRANEAN IN NORTH PALM BEACH AS A MODERN, ISLAND-INSPIRED OASIS, CONTRASTING THE ARCHITECTURE'S CLEAN LINES WITH TEXTURE AND INTRICATE DETAILS
WHAT'S IN YOUR BEACH BAG?
Fashion designer Liz Joy of Marea shares her beach-day essentials
