Skip to content
Search
Cuisine Noir Magazine
Support Our Work - Donate
Support Our Work - Donate
  • Food & Drink
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Recipes
  • Book Grub
  • CN Review
  • Marketplace
  • Print
  • Events
  • More
    • The Culinary Scoop (blog)
    • Black Wineries
    • Videos
    • Donate
Cuisine Noir Magazine
  • Food & Drink
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Recipes
  • Book Grub
  • CN Review
  • Marketplace
  • Print
  • The Culinary Scoop (blog)
  • Events
  • Black Wineries
  • Videos
Support Our Work - Donate
Support Our Work - Donate
Search
Cuisine Noir Magazine
Support Our Work - Donate
Support Our Work - Donate
  • Food & Drink
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Recipes
  • Book Grub
  • CN Review
  • Marketplace
  • Print
  • Events
  • More
    • The Culinary Scoop (blog)
    • Black Wineries
    • Videos
    • Donate
Cuisine Noir Magazine
  • Food & Drink
  • Travel
  • Lifestyle
  • Recipes
  • Book Grub
  • CN Review
  • Marketplace
  • Print
  • The Culinary Scoop (blog)
  • Events
  • Black Wineries
  • Videos
Support Our Work - Donate
Support Our Work - Donate

Arawak Heritage Inspires Gourmet Line of Spicy Condiments

Vassell Foods Founder Lloyd Vassell
Pictured: Lloyd Vassell | Photo credit: V. Sheree Williams
June 4, 2016
V. Sheree Williams
Share this article
       

If you haven’t heard the word Arawak before, chances are you’re not familiar with the rich history of the group of indigenous people of South America who settled in the Caribbean. This is a history lesson that gourmet purveyor Vassel Foods shares through the production and sales of its pepper sauces, fruit spreads and dry rubs under the Arawak Farm brand.

All of his life, owner and creator Lloyd Vassell was reminded that being an Arawak Indian represented heritage and pride. Born of Jamaican descent in New York, Vassel says, “As farmers and fisherman, they cured, stored and flavored their foods with spices and peppers,” referring to his ancestors. Being the son of a chef and a former chef himself, Vassel has been eating and cooking with those very spices, peppers and other ingredients all his life. “Every West Indian has dry rubs and jerks and have what is called ‘gravy’ which is an old rum bottle filled with peppers, carrots, cho-cho peppers, allspice and vinegar. That is where the extra heat comes from.”

RELATED: Deaf Can! Coffee Changes Lives, One Bean at a Time

RELATED: For the Love of Chocolate: Celebrating Black-Owned Businesses Working with Cacao

It's All in the History

For more than 20 years, Vassell has been creating his pepper sauces which are known to pack some heat. He didn’t decide to offer them commercially until after being hospitalized with ulcerative colitis which led to the removal of his colon. Vowing never to return to corporate America, it was a natural transition back into the world of food that now has him running Arawak Farm full throttle. “We are very big on the Arawak history, we’re very big on promoting it and at the same time we’re using indigenous spices, indigenous peppers to create our products. Allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, pineapple and the peppers,” says Vassel.

Prior to his last stint at Sun Microsystems in Northern California’s Silicon Valley, Vassell tread the waters as a restaurateur twice over. First in New York and then across the country in Sacramento where he worked with Olivia Brown from the hit show “Miami Vice” and her namesake restaurant, Ms. Olivia’s. Leaving the kitchen behind, he re-entered corporate America in the tech world which could have proved to be just as stressful.

Bringing it all full circle, he now offers gourmands four pepper sauces that include a mango pineapple, mixed berry, sweet ginger basil and of course Jamaican jerk. The fruit spreads add a nice kick of heat to dressings and desserts.  Finally, the dry rubs offer an amazing amount of flavor when used on meats and vegetables. “We are not a hot sauce, we’re not a jelly and not a typical dry rub. Our pepper sauces are gluten-free, low sodium, no sugar and little to no vinegar. We put it in the type of jar that we have because we want you to spread it. The fruit spreads were a leap of faith because I thought we should have something sweet,” says Vassell.

Tradition That is Good For You

In addition to sharing Arawak history, Vassel thinks that it is important to highlight the fact the products are low in sodium. Something you wouldn’t expect from West Indian products. The jerk rub has only nine ingredients and is much lower in salt compared to other rubs on the market, something he is very proud of. He is currently working on a coffee-based rub made with Blue Mountain Coffee imported directly from Jamaica. If you are a coffee drinker, you know this is a big deal.

All Arawak Farm products are available online and will soon make their way into select military exchanges. In addition, Whole Foods and Andronico’s shoppers in the San Francisco Bay Area may soon find the products on the stores’ shelves in the near future. Vassell would also love to partner with airlines as well as foodservice companies and as he has learned, it all comes by taking it one day at a time.

For more information and to purchase Arawak Farm products, visit www.vassellfoods.com.   You can also follow Vassell on Instagram and Twitter for great recipe ideas.

MORE FROM CUISINE NOIR

How The Spice Suite is Inspiring Good Food and Business
Supreme Vinegar’s Spotlight on the Eternal Condiment

logo
Food Advertisements by

  • Fairbanks, Alaska chef Jeffrey Brooks
    under Black Chefs, Food & DrinkCooking in the Last Frontier: Chef Jeffery Brooks Serves Fairbanks
  • under Food & DrinkRhonda McCullough-Gilmore: Memories of Bernie Mac & Cooking with Love
  • Vassell Foods Founder Lloyd Vassell
    under Food & DrinkArawak Heritage Inspires Gourmet Line of Spicy Condiments
  • under Food & DrinkBaking Champion Vallery Lomas Rises to the Challenge
logo
Food Advertisements by
Share this article
Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
V. Sheree Williams

Sheree has been penning stories since the fifth grade. Her stories took a delicious and adventurous turn as an adult when she became a foodie.

Related Articles

Loading...
Specialty food Association
Food & Drink

(included) to Amplify Black-Owned Brands at Specialty Food Association’s Summer Fancy Food Show

Salamander - Pete Smith
Black Chefs Food & Drink

Chef Pete Smith Celebrates Local Ingredients at Middleburg’s Market Salamander

Whiskey and Rosemary_I.W. Harper_Harper House
Food & Drink

Creatives Gather in San Francisco for Release of I.W. Harper Cabernet Cask Reserve

Be the first to know about the latest online, industry updates, world news, events and promotions that connect the African diaspora through food, drink and travel.

    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising
    Menu
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising
    Facebook Twitter Instagram

    #IAmCuisineNoir

    This site participates in affiliate programs. See our full disclosure for more information.

    © 2022 The Global Food and Drink Initiative d/b/a Cuisine Noir Magazine. Privacy
    Site by ACS Digital

    Any unauthorized duplication, download or reprint of images or content from this website for promotional or commercial use is strictly prohibited without written permission from The Global Food and Drink Initiative. Violators will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Trademark pending.

    YES!  We’re excited you are signing up too!  

    Get ready to receive our weekly newsletter about:

    • New articles online
    • World news and industry happenings throughout the African Diaspora
    • Mouthwatering recipes
    • Promotions and giveaways

    Right in your inbox!