Haiti Food Collection

Haitian cooking is one of the most soulful in the Caribbean — a Creole language spoken in scotch bonnet, thyme, garlic and citrus. At the centre of almost every pot is epis, a bright green seasoning paste of parsley, garlic, chives, peppers, thyme and lime. It is the country's culinary handshake, and once it hits hot oil the whole neighbourhood knows what's for lunch.

From that single base grows an entire cuisine: griot, the crackling fried pork that anchors every celebration; poul nan sòs, chicken slow-cooked in a rich tomato and pepper gravy; legim, a deep stew of eggplant and greens; and diri kole ak pwa, red beans and rice that no Sunday table would go without.

No plate in Haiti is complete without pikliz — shredded cabbage, carrot and scotch bonnet pickled sharp, spicy and vinegar-bright. It is served next to fried plantains, on top of griot, alongside anything that needs a jolt of colour. Making pikliz is a household ritual, and every family swears their jar is the best.

Bannann peze — twice-fried green plantains — appear at almost every meal, crisp on the outside and starchy within. Sweet plantains, akra fritters and marinad round out the country's love affair with the fryer.

Every first of January, Haitian kitchens fill with the smell of soup joumou. A golden squash soup thickened with beef, root vegetables and pasta, it was famously forbidden to the enslaved under French colonial rule — reserved only for the coloniser's table. On Independence Day 1804, freed Haitians cooked and shared it as a declaration of freedom.

Two centuries later the ritual continues in every Haitian home in the world, and in 2021 UNESCO added it to the register of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It remains the most quietly powerful bowl in the Caribbean.

Haiti's Barbancourt rum is aged in oak and treated with the seriousness of a fine cognac, poured neat after long meals. Coffee culture runs deep too — mountain-grown, unhurried, taken sweet and strong on a shaded veranda.

Sundays are the country's slowest, warmest day. Family gathers, griot is piled high, pikliz makes the rounds, plantains sizzle in the pan, and by late afternoon someone has started making cremas — the sweet, thick coconut-and-rum drink of Haitian celebrations.

Our Haiti collection gathers the flavours that define the country — griot, pikliz, diri kole ak pwa, soup joumou, akra, poul nan sòs, cremas and a pour of Barbancourt — into a single warm, celebratory illustrated composition. It is a love letter to a kitchen built on epis, spice and hospitality.

Every Haiti piece is printed and shipped through our Etsy shop — posters, blankets, aprons, baby onesies and more, for anyone who grew up around a Sunday pot of griot, remembers the taste of soup joumou on New Year's Day, or simply loves the vibrant Creole rhythm of the Haitian table.