No that's Canary Islanders. The old Cape Verdean population is in southern
New England. They don't use a lot of cumin, either.

Michael Dritchel wrote me off line with this idea: >>Is it possible that
there is some north African connection here?
Cumin is not uncommon in Moroccan cooking (eg, in tagines) as I
recall.<<

This is a very good idea, since there were Moroccans on many of the voyages
of discovery and some, notably hidden or open Jews, in the early
settlements. They were also represented in the early slave trade as slaves,
and there is a possible connection between them and the old mixed-race
Melungeon groups in the Appalachians (who don't especially cook with Cumin,
but do have some other odd retentions, such as eating "chocolate gravy" for
breakfast).

I think we have to find some contemporary dishes with cumin (besides San
Antonio Chili) and work them back.


--
-Mark H. Zanger
author, The American History Cookbook, The American Ethnic Cookbook for
Students
www.ethnicook.com
www.historycook.com


"TOliver" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Mark Zanger" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> Can't take the hint right away -- I have an interesting Latin American
>> dictionary downstairs I'll get at one of these days. I will say that in
>> Puerto Rico "recao" is *not* cilantro, it's recao, a long leafed native
>> plant. Also there is someplace where cilantro is "cilantrillo" and the
>> other plant of that flavor is "culantro."
>>
>> I have an ethnobotanical dictionary by some druggy botanist from Harvard
>> down there, too.
>>
>> Cumin, the actual subject here, is not real common anywhere in Latin
>> America that I can think of, except maybe Argentina.
>>
> Cominos is quite common in the cuisine of Northern Mexico, and is a
> consistent and substantial ingredient in the classic San Antonio (and
> descendant "TexMex") versions of chili con carne, a dish apparently owing
> something to the Cape Verdean Islanders who were the city's fist
> civilians. I can't imagine cooking the style of Mexican foods most common
> without comino seeds in the spice rack (toasted and ground fresh
> optimally).
>