The sights, sounds and flavors of the Caribbean took over Bed-Stuy this weekend as crowds gathered for the Taste of the Caribbean festival, a celebration of Caribbean-American Heritage Month.<\/p>\n
The aroma of jerk chicken, shrimp empanadas, roti and other island favorites filled the air while steel drums provided the soundtrack for the day. <\/p>\n
Festival founder and executive director of the ONSA Foundation, Sassy Ramoutar, said the event was designed to showcase the rich diversity found throughout the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
“If you’ve ever visited the Caribbean, you’d know that we have Afro-Caribbeans, Indo-Caribbeans, Asian Caribbeans. We have so many different types of cultures in the Caribbean. We’re taking you from New York City and bringing the islands to you,” Ramoutar said.<\/p>\n
Nearly 40 local vendors participated in the event, sharing foods, drinks and traditions from across the Caribbean. <\/p>\n
Among them was 11-year-old entrepreneur Silver Jackson, CEO of Sol Raelle, who offered more than 30 flavors of tropical lemonade.<\/p>\n
“It makes me feel happy that other people can try my creation, and that I can probably inspire people to just start their own business. I’m really proud of myself,” Jackson said.<\/p>\n
Beyond the food, attendees said the festival provided an opportunity to celebrate culture, connect with others and honor Caribbean heritage.<\/p>\n
“It’s a lifestyle. It’s Joy, it’s food. It’s community, it’s people. It’s great energy, and there’s always understanding that we’re one people coming together to spread joy throughout the world,” said participant Matthew Cooper.<\/p>\n
For Ramoutar, the festival is also about bridging generations and creating experiences that bring people together.<\/p>\n
“Just being able to tie it through, through generations and knowing that we’re doing something that all ages can enjoy, that’s the fulfilling part for me,” she said.<\/p>\n
The Taste of the Caribbean festival continues through the weekend from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., giving visitors more opportunities to enjoy Caribbean cuisine, culture and entertainment in the heart of Brooklyn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sights, sounds and flavors of the Caribbean took over Bed-Stuy this weekend as crowds gathered for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-280101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}