Althea Brown is sharing paleo Caribbean recipes in a cookbook that looks and feels like her

She’s created a blog where she styles and shoots photos of her breads, curries and other meals. That recently led to a reader-requested cookbook, “Caribbean Paleo: 75 Wholesome Dishes Celebrating Tropical Cuisine and Culture,” published last year.

Her decision to focus on food began when she was a child, cooking with her mom and both grandmothers – in fact, it’s to, “My Late Granny Inez and My Late Grandmother Evelyn,” that she dedicates the 167-page book.

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“I was always in the kitchen, I think from seven or eight,” said Brown during a recent interview in her sleek gray kitchen. “Being there with my mom as she did it. And then she would start to say to me, ‘do this step’ or ‘do that step.’ And by the time I was 11, then I was in the kitchen doing it.”

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Jovial, welcoming and speaking with a slight accent that turns some of her t’s to d’s, tells her personal story while doing a cooking demonstration. It begins with her growing up in Guyana as the middle of seven children, listening to soca music and eating curry with her hands. 

The story lands at where she now finds herself: in the middle of her busy life. Often, she is in her dining room, cluttered with screens, lights, props, computers and other cookbooks. The counters in the neighboring kitchen are full of bowls of pre-chopped veggies and cilantro. 

On a typical day, the stay-at-home married mom of three creates new recipes. Then she posts the recipes – along with pictures she styles and takes herself – on her blog. 

“I love, love, love it,” she says of preparing food for others. “It brings me so much joy to share it with other people and to just make it, going through all the steps.”

Her steps are a dance of fluidity. Moving from cabinet to drawer to sink to kitchen island, she knows well how far to step in one direction to land where she needs to be. She gets a demo started that will result in pumpkin and potato curry served with roti. Her manner in the kitchen is instructive and fun when grinding spices for a masala – a mix of spices. Today, it will be cumin, coriander, curry and garlic. 

‘This book should look and feel like me’

She often cooks for guests – some who come to her home, some she meets virtually on her food blog Metemgee. It was the regular posting on her site that led her followers to request she put together a cookbook. 

“My followers have been asking me for a long time to write a book. ‘Can you write a book? Can you write a book?’”

When she took on the challenge, she wanted it to be as Althea Brown-centric as possible, with fresh material. 

Source: cpr.org