“Coming to Canada and the US, they brought their culture here to North America. “A lot of people migrated from islands and Guyana,” says Marida and Narida. With waves of immigration in the 1960s, the wrapped roti from Trinidad arrived in North America, where it was popularized in big cities like Toronto and New York and became known as “Caribbean” or “West Indian” roti. Much like the origins of roti, the roots of roti in Canada are a bit fuzzy. “In its commercial form, it’s wrapped in a style similar to a burrito around curried meat or vegetables.” “Caribbean roti is a large flatbread made with white all-purpose flour and stuffed with ground, seasoned split peas and cooked on a griddle,” says Richard. Over the decades, the dish gradually garnered its own Caribbean flare. The dish began to reach all corners of the earth in the 19 th-century, when indentured workers from India introduced the recipe to southern Caribbean colonies of Britain and the Netherlands. “The cooking method and the ingredients (white flour, split peas) are the results of conditions on the plantations.” “In India, puris are deep fried - so what we call dal puris in the diaspora might perhaps more correctly be a dal paratha,” says Richard. Many food historians believe that this ancient flatbread originates from the Indian subcontinent, where even today, no meal is complete without a side of roti. Related: Want Layers of Flavour? This Flaky, Crunchy Guyanese Roti is a Meal-Time Must-Try
Eating his way across the “roti trail,” Fung’s film showcases just how diverse the dish can be. “In Trinidad, is used generically also: Indo-Trinidadians eat sada roti, alu puri and paratha, also known as ‘busupshut.’ Dal puri what Canadians call ‘West Indian or Caribbean roti.’”įung should know: he grew up eating roti in Trinidad and produced Dal Puri Diaspora, a documentary exploring the roots of roti in Trinidad, India and Toronto. “In the subcontinent, ‘roti’ is a generic word for bread and is often a synonym for chapatti,” says Richard Fung.
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