I recently had a "duh" moment when something occured to me that should have.....

[malaise]

12. South Asian Indians have not been in the Caribbean for 400 years

Indentured Indians arrived in the Caribbean after Emancipation in 1838 because the effin' English folks loved free labor (Emancipation was in 1834 but the scumbags insisted on a four year Apprenticeship period to keep our ancestors in the cane piece)..

I'll forgive him for the date because Caribbean medical students are notoriously weak in matters history or social sciences.

On the other hand, in Guyana, T&T, Suriname and Jamaica, there is no doubt about the Indian influence on diet although that is certainly less true of Jamaica which did not and does not have a large Indian population. Guyana and T&T have way more Indian dishes than Jamaica. Curry came from India for sure but so did every mango in these territories and a variety of other fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices. Rice farming in Guyana us another major development associated with former indentured Indians.