Bahamian food, oh, Bahamian food, how we love and cherish thee.
The oldest, simplest, most intimate Bahamian love language of them all –before, “sksksksks” and after, “you’se a debbie”, of course– is “let’s go get some conch salad”. Or any Bahamian food for that matter. You can fill the end of that sentence with: sky juice, macaroni or conch fritters, just to name a few.
Now if you really want to confess your ultimate adoration and display your affection BOLDLY, you could say something like:
“My love for you is like sheep tongue souse: the best Bahamian breakfast” –said no one ever.
I meannnnn… if you love it, I like it, but sheep tongue souse? Like da tongue of the sheep? Boy ine know. I try it one time, it was bold alright, das for sure.
Now back to Bahamian food and love languages, y’all is get so distracted man. Bahamian food has long since been a huge part of Bahamian culture and identity. It’s the one thing that truly unites us. It’s the one thing we can all truly agree on… like mayonnaise DOES go in conch salad, right?
..
…
No hey? Too far hey?
Does Mayo go in Conch Salad?
0%Yes
0%No
0%Man, ine know
Okay fine, Bahamian food is the one thing we can all truly-mostly agree on. Shoutout to all my mayo-conch salad lovers. I tried she once when I went Freeport yanno, it was bussin, ine ga lie.
Above: Before and after photos of trying conch salad with mayo, lobster and crab in Freeport in 2023. I promise I did like it!
Before you stop reading cuz I runnin’ you dead hot, allow me to explain. Picture this: crab salad or if your pockets permit you to be fancy: lobster salad. Mmmm, taste good aye? Well conch salad with mayo, is literally exactly the same. All we doing is swapping out ‘all da meat’.
Above: A demonstration of the clear fact that lobster salad and crab salad is the same as conch salad with mayo. Obviously!
Well, actually, according to a real life Freeportian, I was actually informed that it's more usual to order a conch, lobster and crab salad with mayo as opposed to a conch salad with mayo. So essentially a lobster salad with crab and conch or a crab salad with lobster and conch. Either way, don’t knock it till you try it.
Come like this post sponsored by ‘Mayo in Conch Salad’ aye? It would sound something like this: “This post was brought to you by, ‘Forget what The General Bahamas does say, Mayo in Conch Salad saves lives!’” Stellar.
Okay enough Kaché, get serious! Where was I? Oh, right, Bahamian food. We always talk about when God was making The Bahamas and our Bahamian waters, but NO ONE ever talks about God making the first Bahamian that said, “you see that sheep tongue? Dat gotta be good right?” LOLLLLL. (I really just here for the jokes and giggles, allow me!)
Last year, 'I is a Bahamian bey' accidentally stumbled on planning and executing our whole year around a theme. That theme turned out to be: FOOD, BAHAMIAN FOOD.
I know what you’re thinking, you been doing this for over five years, how you accidentally just stumbled on a theme, don’t you have like a plan?? No lol. Stillllll figuring it out as I go! :)
Anyways, it started out with a simple question, then a simple realization, then a simple quest.
The question: “how often do you have conch salad?”
The realization: “Omg! I haven’t had it in yearssssss!” Dey ga take my passport for sure
The simple quest: FIND THE BEST CONCH SALAD IN NASSAU.
I went on an adventure to find the best conch salad in Nassau for my first conch salad in years. I first started by doing a poll and asking my 20k friends on Instagram for suggestions. It was narrowed down to:
Skinny on Potters Cay Dock
Rasta at the Fry
Drifters at the Fry
Above: My quest to find the best conch salad in Nassau turned into me having three conch salads in one day!
I went to all three. I ultimately determined that Rasta was the best conch salad. If you want to check out that series, start from here.
A couple months later, this little quest led to the creation of our 2024 independence collection which was inspired by Bahamian fruit and Androsia.
Each one of those fruits in each letter was digitally drawn to create the print above. Based on the photos below, I had long been inspired by Bahamian fruit way before "I is a Bahamian bey' was even an idea!
Above: The second photo is a screenshot from one of the funniest and greatest videos that ever lived! Straight out of SNL.
Finally in December for our Winter collection, I recognized the accidental food trend, I saw an opportunity and I TOOK IT! The entire winter/ Tingsmas collection was food related (with the exception of the ‘ine on ya run' hat and the ‘Junkanoo instruments’ designs).
Above: Some of the designs from last year, that were not and will not be restocked. EVER!
For me, discovering the ability to center ‘I is a Bahamian bey’ apparel and content around a common theme was very fulfilling. This was the first year that I was able to create content that really told a story and that was intentionally linked back to the business operations of selling Bahamian inspired merchandise. In the past, the two wouldn't connect. The content and the merch would be two different things, but I would miss opportunities to explain the cultural relevance of, "mix up like conch salad" or "toters come to ya party".
Above: Content creation related to the Bahamian food theme and merchandise.
The Bahamian food collection was more than just putting Bahamian food on t-shirts and hoodies. Bahamian food is pivotal in our culture. Bahamian food is:
The way our grammie tells us she loves us
Fellowship and friendship, the way we bond and come together in community
Our language, the way we describe and express ourselves
Connection to our heritage, belongingness, home
I can go on and on about our love for Bahamian food. Shoots, I can tell you exactly where I was, how old I was and what I was eating when I recognized my love for Bahamian food. You wanna know? Okay bet.
There I was back in 2008, in my early teens, with my hair pulled back into a ponytail, red chipped polish on my short little stubby finger nails and my lime green techno watch on my wrist. We was by grammie house for lunch. I was sitting on the porch mashin’ down my “Bahamian plate” and then something came over me, was it joy or gluttony?
Idk what it was, but there was something about that second to last bite of CRAB ‘N’ RICE I put in my mouth.
I paused and closed my eyes and literally said to myself, wow, I love food! I love Bahamian food. Then someone came and took my last bite!!!!!!!!
Just kidding, but that’s why you don’t save the best bite for last, I learned that from my mommy, mommy daddy lol (my great grandfather). Say he used to take people's last bite of food. Would of never caught me slipping!
Now that we understand Bahamian food, here is the inspiration and stories behind some of the pieces in our Food Collection:
Our beloved Conch Salad
Conch Salad is a drive with your family or ya movie on a Sunday. It’s an art form in the hands of those who prepare our conch salad for us. It's a motion. It’s an expression – “mix up like conch salad” and something none of us wan be – a conch. It comes in many forms which represent our different taste buds and preferences: regular, scorched, tropical or mayo’d.
Is it sky juice or gully wash?
Like I said earlier, we can agree on mostly all things Bahamian food related, the name is up for debate. In our design of this shirt, we felt it was necessary to include both names, to ensure that everyone felt included and seen. This is the same thing we did for our “bey bui bei” shirt. Sky juice is perfection. It’s literally another one of those God, bless the Bahamian that saw a coconut and thought that just needed some milk, gin and nutmeg, because yeah it did.
Tote
I think this one is pretty self explanatory. One thing ‘I is a Bahamian bey’ is all about is defining words and also demonstrating how different words have multiple meanings.
This word is based on the cultural phenomenon where anytime we go anywhere or any function that has food, WE TOTIN’ KING!
Whether you’re supplying the to-go containers or not, I promise I have my ‘be ready to tote food home’ containers in my car, ready! It is such a huge cultural phenomenon that we made a whole song about it. Shout out to KB! But tote could also be: toting cut hip or toting gossip.
As ‘I is a Bahamian bey’ continues to grow and create, I hope it can continue to draw inspiration from The Bahamas and our culture. There is so much to us! We will continue to operate in a “Yearly theme”, this will allow a deeper focus and opportunity for storytelling.
I hear this year’s theme ga be dead good! Look out for the content that will begin to give you clues before our new collection drops!
Hit the like and share for me pleaseeee. :)
hi,,,,,,,😎