�������t¶��

I have a special place in my heart for home cooked fried okra.

The 11 ingredients in the book — beans, calabaza, cassava, chayote, coconut, cornmeal, okra, plantains, rice, salted cod and scotch bonnet peppers — are all inherently Caribbean ingredients.

Many locals though put their fertility down to a dish called "ilasa", made from okra leaves.

In some cases, farmers might rotate between seeding a field with corn one year, then beans the next and okra the year after.

West African gumbo tends to be made with way, way more okra and, instead of relying on a roux or mirepoix to impart flavor, it contains dried fish powder, shrimp powder and “heavy-duty spices.”