A married couple who fled Haiti for Virginia achieved their American dream when they opened a variety market on the Eastern Shore, selling hard-to-find spices, sodas and rice to the region’s growing Haitian community.
When they added a Haitian food truck, people drove from an hour away for freshly cooked oxtail, fried plantains and marinated pork.
But Clemene Bastien and Theslet Benoir are now suing the town of Parksley, alleging that it forced their food truck to close. The couple also say a town council member cut the mobile kitchen’s water line and screamed, “Go back to your own country!”
“When we first opened, there were a lot of people” ordering food, Bastien said, speaking through an interpreter. “And the day after, there were a lot of people. And then … they started harassing us.”
I’d argue Cajun cooking is native cuisine, granted that was cobbled together from the cooking traditions of several immigrant cultures.
Native to your area. I can’t get it without a bit of work.
The same can be said about provincial french cuisine. You are so used to a world of food chains that you can’t imagine a past history where EVERYTHING was regional.