The history of Notting Hill Carnival’s food culture

The early years of the carnival were humble in stature, however, over time it became a place to showcase Caribbean culture. The older generation of my family tell me “back in the day” (the late 1960s and 1970s when many of Notting Hill’s now-luxurious estates were housing Caribbean and displaced British working-class communities) that in whole streets , the front doors would have been open. Hospitality was a key part of the carnival and houses would be open with anyone welcome to just wander in to eat a chinwag, use the toilet and of course eat some food. Over time, it became a bit more commercial. As one observer noted in the early 1980s, it was “an important trading post for the sale of Afro-Caribbean foods as well as drinks…” Technological advances such as food trucks, bain-maries and portable stoves meant that more people can afford the equipment needed to care for massive amounts of people.

One thing to note, however, is due to the popularity of Jamaican music in the UK such as Ska, Reggae and Dancehall, many consider the Notting Hill Carnival to be a Jamaican event. But the genesis of Carnival and the food you see at this event perfectly illustrate the opposite. While many Caribbean foods fall under the same umbrella, the distance between foods like Jamaica and Guyana or Trinidad & Tobago is the same as that of England and Estonia. With this, the food can be varied and every corner of the Caribbean is represented in the various stalls that run from the Paddington edge of central West London to the fringes of North West London.

Today, many local favorites started cooking at Notting Hill Carnival. Bernard Miller of North London’s Trinidadian Roti Stop told me: “I drove around London selling the food myself.” Starting in 1991, he traveled to as many carnivals as possible selling Trinidadian-style roti and curry. The family behind Manchester’s famous Buzzrocks told me: “We were like Jamaican roadies.” They discovered they had struck a chord at England’s famous Glastonbury and Womad festivals. Up in Leeds, St. Kittian Mauren Wilkes of Maureen’s Named Food tells me she was at “every carnival! Every festival!” and Hugh Anderson of Oxford’s legendary Hi-Lo’s started one of the city’s first carnivals. This just illustrates the varied and incredible food on offer at Notting Hill Carnival and other carnivals across the UK.