May 2023
Features
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Atlanta is a pepper pot of Caribbean cultures
With numbers steadily increasing since the 1970s, Caribbeans officially account for 85,000 of metro Atlanta’s 6 million people. That number will shock some readers for a couple of reasons. The first is what I like to call “undercover Caribbeans.” There are a lot of people in this city who you would never know are Caribbean.
Out of Many: Dancehall kings, cricket batters, fowl farmers, and more have found ways to bring the Caribbean to the South
Christopher Swain Christopher Swain has traveled the globe seeking to understand his ancestral lineage through the arts. The native Atlantan, author, and public arts coordinator for the City of East Point is an avid collector of tribal art and artifacts from various cultures, having spent the last 25-plus years traveling to countries on the African […]
In a Southern kitchen, rice and beans bind generations and geographies
Cooking stew peas or any iteration of beans and rice was never meant to be dogma. Rather, it is a humble offering connected to nourishment and nostalgia wrapped in the comfort of eating what we are used to eating and will continue to eat.
Meet the team that wants to become the largest Black-owned restaurant group in the country
When I finally arrived to check out APT 4B, I met Clive Ruddock, a Jamaican immigrant who is part-owner of this and several other Caribbean-themed Atlanta restaurants—collectively, though unofficially, known as Every1Eats Hospitality Group. He, and later his partners, shared with me the unconventional but remarkable story of their rapidly growing enterprise.
Jerk is not a sauce
Everybody loves sauce. It’s an easy way to enhance, and sometimes outright save, the quality of an otherwise lacking recipe. But no matter how thick a sauce company might try to pour it on, there’s no culturally acceptable version of Jamaica’s famous and famously imitated jerk you can make simply by opening and tilting a bottle of sauce.
The Caribbean roots of Southern hip-hop and OutKast’s “SpottieOttieDopaliscious”
But perhaps the clearest example of the Caribbean’s influence on Atlanta hip-hop is OutKast’s classic song on its third studio album, Aquemini: “SpottieOttieDopaliscious,” described by Andre 3000 in the second verse as a “fine, bow-legged girl . . . fine as all outdoors.”
A step-by-step guide to Carnival
Winston Munroe has been playing mas for 65 years and he says each year is even more exhilarating than the last. According to the Trinidad native, who is also president of Sesame Atlanta band, Carnival preparations for the next year begin a day after Carnival ends.
The tale (and tension) of Atlanta’s two Carnivals
Over the past two decades, the celebration has departed from Peachtree Street and split into two competing operations: the Atlanta Caribbean Carnival, which has taken place at Turner Field, Morris Brown College, Auburn Avenue, Old Fourth Ward Park, and, more recently, Central Park; and the Atlanta-DeKalb Carnival, which started in Conyers then moved to Decatur and, now, Stonecrest. At first glance, the split might seem to mirror the sprawl of the Caribbean community throughout the metro Atlanta area. But Atlanta’s tale of two Carnivals also reflects the age-old tensions that can occur when people with disparate but similar backgrounds have limited options for celebrating their identities and are forced to find community together—alternately being blamed or credited for each others’ actions.
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The Connector
A Haitian community finds sanctuary in a corner of Gwinnett County
When reports first surfaced of thousands of Haitians stranded at an encampment at the border in Del Rio, Texas, in 2021, a group of pastors connected through the Haitian Evangelical Clergy of Georgia organized a trip to see how they could help.
How a pair of twin Atlanta matchmakers double the love
Imagine, after years of wandering through dry and desiccated dating pools, you stumble upon a wise matchmaker who’s helped thousands of people find true love. Now imagine there’s two of them. “We don’t really have a business secret,” says Lisa Lyngos with a shrug. “The secret is that we’re twins.”
The miraculous return of the real 99X
Good things have a way of disappearing in Atlanta: New condos rise above historic neighborhoods like gravestones, an iconic doughnut shop burns to the ground, a legendary music venue gets gutted to make room for a shiny office space. But on Monday, December 5, a miracle happened. It came in the form of a familiar voice, edgy and distorted, creeping through car radios like the ghost of rock and roll: “You are listening to the original 99X.”
The Caribbean origins of the waving inflatable tube man
In 1996, a legendary Carnival designer brought Caribbean flair to the Atlanta Olympics—and accidentally transformed car dealerships forever.
The Bite
The verdict on 3 new Atlanta restaurants: Bona Fide Deluxe, Humble Pie, and Whoopsie’s
A bona fide delight in Edgewood, fancy pizza on the Westside, and a top-shelf cocktail bar with food to match in Reynoldstown.
Review: La Semilla is for everyone
Any given evening, most of the with-it young clientele sitting down to dinner at La Semilla aren’t full-time vegans. But that’s a large part of the draw at this new Latin restaurant on a hot stretch of Memorial Drive: It’s for everyone. And everyone appears to be eating here. Every table is full. The noise level is just right—cheerful, not deafening. Your interest is piqued, your instincts are rewarded—if you follow them through the tall doorway, set off by garlands of large green leaves painted onto the brick.
Behold: The secret to the Caribbean’s savory dishes
There’s life before you add green seasoning to your cooking repertoire, and life after it. You’ll likely never see this concoction in an official recipe for a soup, stew, slow roast, or curry, but green seasoning—known as sofrito and recaito in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, and epis in Haiti—is undoubtedly the backbone of Caribbean cooking.
In a new cookbook, an Atlanta author shares classic spice blends from across India—including this decadent chai lassi recipe
This chai rabdi lassi pays homage to rich historical and culinary traditions. It embraces the regional love of cream, and the spiced black chai is a nod to its struggle for freedom against colonial rule.
The Goods
The South’s Caribbean connection: Six reads that trace regional bonds
Cookbooks, essays, history, and more.
5 Reasons to love West End
West End was named in the 1860s after London’s famed theater district. Connected to downtown by horse-drawn streetcars, the suburb soon attracted affluent residents, including mayors, a governor, business owners, and Joel Chandler Harris, author of the Uncle Remus tales. Though the neighborhood experienced white flight during the mid-20th century, it has long benefited from its proximity to the Atlanta University Center—drawing prominent residents like Dr. O.T. Hammonds, whose grand Victorian home is now an art museum. In recent years, the Atlanta BeltLine’s Westside Trail has brought new development—such as the sprawling Lee + White complex—along with the mixed benefits of gentrification. Through it all, strong local leadership has ensured that the “Best End” keeps its sights on the future.
A tranquil spa and sanctuary at the MET Atlanta honors a famous Honduran herbalist
When you walk through the door at Sebi’s Daughters at the MET Atlanta in Adair Park, you are immediately transported to a tropical forest, complete with mangroves climbing the walls, soothing music in the air, and the sounds of a gentle, burbling waterfall.
Author Von Diaz recalls a kitchen where Georgia first felt like home
Puerto Rican–born author Von Diaz draws connections between her native island and the American South in her recent book Coconuts and Collards.
