Hello everyone. I am Christy Kreyol. I am a born and raised Haitian woman. I spent 17 years on my island, and those were the best years of my life. When I came to the United States, I started realizing how much my experience was different than most people my age.
I am aslo known as Christy Kreyol on my social media accounts, but my real first name is Ann-Christy. Most people call me Christy, but people who are close to me call me Ann-Christy. If we’re not friends like that, don’t call me Ann-Christy. In my work settings, people call me Ann. That usually come from non-Haitian people. I freaking hate that. It gets on my nerves.
Food has always been a big focus among the ladies in my family (my mother’s side) and I used to sit right beside them, helping as much as I could. I was mostly tasting, stealing some of the food, and avoiding a few taps from my cousins for doing so. That caused me to start thinking about the flavor of food and different things I could experience with.
I started telling my mother about the difference spices combination that I think would work best with different meats. And she started trying and trusting me with the spices aspect of the food.
The very first time I cooked (fried) without my mother’s approval , it was some salami, and I burned my eyelid. I started screaming and my mother rushed out to help me. I was forbidden to ever cook again. I was 8 then. In 2004, I was 11 years old, the country was in turmoil. We couldn’t do most of everyday things because of security reasons. People in my home were too depressed to cook anything. So, I took that opportunity to do so. I mostly learned to listen to all my elders tips. And I blissfully enjoyed every moment of my failed, and successful dishes. 14 years forward, I choose to share my interest and passion for food.
Coming to the United Stated was a real cultural shock for me. In terms of food, I clang on my roots. I refuse to eat any other cultural dishes unless they were Haitian; and I couldn’t eat Haitian food every day. So the next option was fast food since, in my mind, I consider them neutral.
Well, I got sick real fast. I started having gallbladder problems and had to do surgery.
A very close friend of mine suggested that I make my own food, that way i could keep a close eye on the chosen ingredients. He also suggested that I should try to learn and make other ethnic food. Of course I refused immediately. I only like Haitian food, the best food in the world.
After a lot of tugging and pulling, I finally agree with him and decided on something heavily spiced and that was Achari Chicken, an Indian dish. And I’ve been in love with exploring new flavors ever since. I learned so much since then. But Haitian food is still the best.
2 years after I started my exploration, a lot of my close friends started pushing for me to start a YouTube channel. When I finally decided to go through with this idea, I was terrified. I hate being in front of an audience. I don’t like it, but I love to talk about food. So here I am, still enjoying this sharing process and hope you will like the recipes I choose to share with you.
Thank you for your time.