In my previous post, I spoke about my trip overall and its significance to me, and with this post I want to focus on something specific and exciting to me. Cultures display their distinctions and identities to everything from clothing to language. One of the most recognizable distinctions is in the food that is eaten in a specific culture. Guyana is no different!

So many unique dishes come from my mom’s country that I enjoyed growing up, as well as when I went to Guyana. Things like tennis rolls, metagee, pepper pot, curry ANYTHING are some of the food choices I’ve experienced in my life. While in Guyana though; I had metagee, curry chicken with roti, golden apple, white pudding, and labba.

Curry chicken (or chicken curry as some argue is the best way to say it lol!) is the most well known dish, which is made using curry powder amongst other seasoning items made into a sauce. Golden apples are fruits that aren’t unique to Guyana, but I had them for the first time in Guyana. Metagee is unique to Guyana however; and it is a stew with saltfish, vegetables, plantains, and cooked in a coconut sauce. I also had dumpling with it, which is optional.

Metagee (or metamgee)

White pudding is a dish that is unique, in that the name of this dish is not what we usually associate with pudding. It is rice cooked in coconut milk and different herbs that is stuffed inside sausage casings, or intestines. This is the version of pudding that is easier for those who aren’t from Guyana to eat, which includes me haha! Black pudding is the version that makes people squeamish because it contains the blood when it’s cooked..yeah, I know. Here’s that dish below:

White Pudding

If you’re still reading and not grossed out by what I’ve described, I salute you! Now I will up the ante with something I tried for the first time ever. The next dish I’ll highlight was something I ate at a restaurant in Georgetown, called Sillouette. It is a wild meat called labba, and labba is actually a large rodent who is also known as the lowland Paca! Not even my mother wanted to try this, so I feel really proud of myself for this! It was made with a garlic sauce, and legitimately tasted like a cross between chicken and beef to me.

Garlic Labba

Last but not least, I had tennis rolls, which are Guyanese bread rolls. They’re SO good with cheese and butter! They were more fresh to me there than here in America, so much so, that when we brought some back, they spoiled within three days! My trip to Guyana further cemented my love for the culture and the food it produced!

Before I end this piece, I wanted to highlight my awesome brother, Christian Mark Gibbs! Our trip was even more special because he got the opportunity to sing at our family’s church, where he sang an opera piece, as well as Israel Houghton’s Hosanna. It was a beautiful time of worshipping the Lord, and it impacted the pastor of that church so much that he told the congregation it brought him to tears! There was also a prophetic word given to him, which I’ll include as well below.