Caribbean Food Is Coming Back In Multiples Of 10

The chefs of Antigua & Barbuda's Culinary Month on heritage, collaboration, and why Caribbean food demands the spotlight now more than ever.

By EatOkra

Last updated 29 Apr, 2026

There's a lyric Chef Andi Oliver keeps in the back of her mind. It's from an old song called Freedom, written for a film about the Black Panthers: You kick me down, I get back up — I'm coming back in multiples of 10.

For Oliver, the celebrated British-Antiguan chef, broadcaster, and cultural force, those words serve as a lens for understanding Caribbean food itself and what she and other chefs are doing to preserve and innovate around it.

"We are here,” says Oliver. “We're not going anywhere. And we should have pride in our food.” This year, Oliver is putting that conviction on the plate, collaborating with chefs Kerth Gumbs and Kareem Roberts on a dinner built around both honoring and reimagining indigenous Antiguan ingredients in new and unexpected ways.

That’s just one of countless ways chefs are collaborating for Antigua and Barbuda's Culinary Month, a month-long celebration every May spanning Restaurant Week, FAB Fest, a Caribbean Food Forum, an "Eat Like A Local" initiative, and a roster of chef dinners that brings diaspora talent back to the island.

We asked a few of the chefs participating this year to tell us what that stage means to them — and what they want the world to know about the food they're cooking.

On Why Culinary Month Matters

"We are in a period where Caribbean food is experiencing a well-deserved spotlight in the media. The timing is perfect because the discussion is supported by a product — Culinary Month — that showcases the best of what we have to offer." - Chef Kareem Roberts, Cambridge-based Antiguan Chef (The Burleigh Arms)

"Culinary Month comes at a time when Antigua and Barbuda's identity is being redefined on the regional and international stage. It's an opportunity for local chefs to tell their stories through food, rooted in heritage but expressed with modern techniques." - Chef Maurine Bowers (Moon Gate Hotel & Spa, Antigua and Barbuda)

"Events like this always matter because they shine a light on local talent, as well as highlight what's happening from a culinary and beverage perspective." - Chef Paul Carmichael, winner of Top Chef Season 22, Barbados-born chef behind Kabawa in New York

"It is crucial, right now, that we make a statement for our cuisine, our islands, and our culture. We cannot allow a gentrification of our culture or our cuisine." - Claude Lewis, first-generation Antiguan and Barbudan Chef and Chopped Champion

On What People Get Wrong About Caribbean Food

"The thing that drives me the most crazy in the world is when people call Caribbean food Jamaican food. It's so reductive. It's like calling Italian food European food — Italian people would lose their mind. We all eat different things. We have dishes that are the same right across the Caribbean, and then we have specificity on each island, depending on who came from where and did what, why and how." - Chef Andi

"While Caribbean food exists as a collective, we are not as monolithic as the perception would suggest. There are regional distinctions that are as identifiable as our accents and dialects." - Chef Kareem

"Caribbean cuisine is incredibly sophisticated. It's layered and deeply influenced by African, indigenous, European, and Asian influences. Too often it's simplified into 'casual' or 'rustic' food, but there is finesse, technique, and intention behind it." - Chef Maurine

"A lot of people still think of Caribbean food as island fruits and seafood. I want people to walk away knowing it is much more than that." - Chef Paul

On Heritage and How It Shapes the Cooking

"I grew up cooking in respect to my heritage. After my parents immigrated to America, our household stayed fully Caribbean — fever grass, frozen soursop, fish, sugar cane. Whenever I opened a suitcase, I could smell Antigua. It's in my DNA." - Chef Claude

"My heritage has trained my instincts to evaluate and elevate taste and flavor. To a lesser extent, I am also conditioned to cook from a position of scarcity and access as opposed to abundance and excess. As a chef, these skills have become indispensable." - Chef Kareem

"Everything I cook today is because of my heritage. It has shaped the way I learned and the goals I've set for my career. I've always wanted to showcase our culture because growing up, it was never in the forefront." - Chef Paul

On the Power of Cooking Together

"Connecting with other creative people who are working in the same sphere is incredibly inspiring. I'm working with Kerth Gumbs and Kareem Roberts on this dinner, and we just have these phone calls and we're remembering stuff from our childhood and from our whole creative path. Three different life experiences, three different creative lenses, all coming together to create something new. That's when magical work appears." - Chef Andi

"It is not only humbling, but inspirational beyond expression. Twenty years ago I would look up in awe at chefs that participated in events like this. While I still do, I give myself a moment to be proud of myself for becoming what I once admired so deeply." - Chef Kareem

"Each plate becomes a reflection of where we come from, but also where we're going. It's about unity, pride, and pushing the cuisine forward together while honouring our roots." - Chef Maurine

On What to Eat Before You Leave Antigua

"Conch water. In my opinion, there is no seafood soup on earth that compares. Quintessentially Antiguan." - Chef Kareem

"Definitely Antigua and Barbuda's national dish: pepperpot and fungi." - Chef Maurine

"Ducana. I'm going to eat so much." - Chef Paul

"A traditional breakfast: saltfish, boiled or fried dumplings, choba — which is chopped eggplant, something we uniquely do in Antigua and Barbuda — and ducana, a coconut and sweet potato dumpling indigenous to the island." - Chef Claude

"I'm dying for roti. There's a lady on Factory Road — and, oh my god. These people are the keepers of the secret. They hold the deep magic, and we can't let that go." - Chef Andi

Antigua and Barbuda's Culinary Month runs throughout May. For more information, visit the website here.