Over the weekend, the streets of Notting Hill in London welcomed back Carnival after a two-year hiatus. We (along with thousands of people) took a fun stride through Carnival to celebrate Black West Indian cultures, basking in immaculate vibes with parades, boomboxes, and a heavy influx of rum and delicious Caribbean food. Take a look at Sofar’s five takes from our Sunday experience.
1. Carnival is for everyone
If there’s one thing about Carnival, it’s that it’s an extremely diverse event, bringing together an array of ethnicities and cultures to celebrate Caribbean culture, Black independence, Black-owned businesses, and Black pride.
2. Carnival is a community
Carnival is more than a celebration, it’s a safe space full of resources, a community for Black people to come together and support one another like a family. For instance, throughout the event were signs for the ACLT, a bone marrow, blood, and organ donation center focused on donors for African and Caribbean communities.
3. Cash is your best friend
It’s no mystery that Carnival has an inventory of great food options run by Black independent business owners. If you want to partake in some tasty Caribbean food at the event, your best option is to withdraw cash, and quite a bit (depending on how hungry you are, of course). Whilst we’re slowly falling into a cashless world with contactless payments, cash still tends to flow at Carnival, which is all about supporting small businesses.
4. Veggie is life
Typically, Caribbean food involves lots of seafood, and lots of jerk chicken. And whilst these are both huge fundamentals of Caribbean cuisine, many people have made a shift to a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle in the last decade. There were lots of alternative options across food stalls, with vegetarian dumplings, vegan curries, veggie pasties, and of course, all the plantain in the world!
5. Pack your skates and feathers
Carnival is a great space to see and embrace authentic and innovative creativity. There’s a fancy dress element encouraging wacky face masks, extravagant headwear, and diamante costumes. No outfit is “too much,” nor “too little,” at Carnival everything is bigger, bolder and a lot more eccentric.. And you don’t have to be on a float in the parade to join in on the fun, you can rollerblade with strangers, as so many were this year.
Words and photo by Laviea Thomas
