The spirit and taste of carnival - Birmingham’s Ital food is a plant-based party

A tour of the city’s best veggie Caribbean dishes

Dear Patchers — welcome to Wednesday. 

24 hours ago I was proselytising about Birmingham’s twilight hours and how wonderful it felt to return home at the same hour that Queen’s corner — the intersection that encompasses New St, the ramp to the station, and Corporation St — was backdropped by a bruise purple sunset. Those words seem to have acted as an enticement for a downpour. Sorry. For the second time in 24-hours, I should’ve known better.

Fear not, today’s story should transport you to the vibrant Caribbean sunshine by way of some of Birmingham’s most-loved eateries. Gurpreet Mann, a chef and writer based in Birmingham and Berlin, has looked at the origins of plant-based eating — or Ital, in Rastafari vocabulary — in the West Indies, and visited some of the restaurants that cater to the diet here. It’s a feast for the eyes (and the spirit) if you’ll pardon the pun.

In other Dispatch news: we’re now just a smidgen below 11,000 readers with 360-odd of us fully paid-up subscribers. One paying subscriber, Alf, has written to tell us that the reporting we publish is “genuine, real, current, honest and socially concerned”. Tony adds that he enjoys our wide coverage of events (including the arts) and Thomas wrote in to say that “local journalism is a necessity, not a luxury”. That’s something we wholeheartedly agree with. As such, we’ll continue to publish ably supported by your subscriptions.

If you haven’t done so already, for the price of two takeaway coffees, you can get a monthly subscription. This enables us to continue bringing you the news we believe Birmingham sorely needs. And, please do keep writing in to tell us what we need to look at next. As ever, thanks.

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Brum in Brief

✈️Airport investigation: Birmingham Airport is at the centre of an investigation after untrained staff were found to have screened luggage before it was loaded onto aircraft. Managers have been accused of falsifying training records and contractor Mitie, who employs them, has sacked at least two of them. Workers have now been retrained but at least one manager has hit back claiming he has been scapegoated. Full story here.

🧑‍🎤Kickback against Council cuts: Outraged over cuts to youth services, planned job losses and tax rises, protestors have banded together to show council leaders their displeasure. A mixture of hacked-off Brummies, young people and union members took to Victoria Square to protest against £300m of savings the council needs to make. In a speech in front of the council building, Hamaan Shire, a youth activist asked: “What will you choose councillors? A safe and thriving Birmingham where young people have a future or a Birmingham where its people are forgotten?”

🚫Valentine’s Day strike continues: Today marks the second day that Amazon workers in Coventry have gone on strike in a long-running dispute over pay. More than 1000 GMB union members are withdrawing their labour until Thursday in efforts to earn £15 an hour and union rights. Amazon says the firm offers competitive wages and benefits, increasing pay 50% since 2018. More details here.

🚄Seven-figure travel plans: Transport authorities have put aside £1m for the creation of new train stations at Castle Bromwich, Coventry East and Tettenhall. The fund aims to develop transport hubs along existing lines to address deprivation and the need for speedier connection links in these areas. To find out more about the full plans, click here.

🧒Half-term tips: If you’re a parent or guardian looking for half-term amusements for the kids, we’ve got some hints for you here (all inside, with the weather on the turn). At Bournville’s Selly Manor, it’s possible to play historian and detective until 16 February and explore the Black Tudors, later on today there’s a free print-making class at Ikon, and on Thursday Ruth Millington is hosting an introductory art class. 

🌃Aurora Bullring-aris: In the UK, the Northern Lights can usually only be seen in Scotland. However, until 18 February, Brummies can head down to St Martin’s Walk to catch Dan Acher’s installation piece which re-creates the famous phenomena, set to a score by French composer Guillaume Desbois. Previously, the piece had toured in France and Spain with Australia its next destination. Wonderfully, this is free.

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The spirit and taste of carnival — Birmingham’s Ital food is a plant-based party

By Gurpreet Mann

“Ackees, chapatties
Dumplins an nan,
Channa an rotis
Onion uttapam,

Masala dosa
Green callaloo
Bhel an samosa
Corn an aloo...”

‘Vegan Delight’ is one of Benjamin Zephaniah’s most famous poems on veganism, found in his 1994 collection, Talking Turkeys. I re-read the poem after his passing at the end of last year and found myself smiling at his taste for foods that can be found all over Brum via Chinese, Indian, Caribbean, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi immigrants. Even without the intention of doing so, he always shared a sense of what makes Birmingham special. Hearing some of his other words on diet through interviews and videos, it’s woven together with his identity as a Rasta, practicing Ital. 

Rastafarians have been in Birmingham since the late 1940s, when thousands of Caribbean people made the voyage to the UK, settling down in parts of London (Notting Hill and Brixton), Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham. Despite Rastafarianism’s roots in the Caribbean, for many people, it was here in Birmingham that they found their faith. Rastas use the term Ital or I-tal to refer to the type of food that’s celebrated in the movement. Rastas consider the body a temple, a creation of Jah, taking care to eat ‘natural, pure, and clean food’—Ital is generally a vegan diet. Ital is lyaric, or Dread Talk, taken from Vital—dropping the first letter of certain English words serving as an act of self-determination, and the belief that words starting with ‘I’ unify the speaker with God, and all of nature. Growing up in Birmingham around so many cultures, I’m reminded of the purpose of language; the ways in which we speak accents, dialects, languages, and slang is not just to communicate—but is also a mandate, a direction for ourselves.