The glorious aroma of creamy, cheesy crispy macaroni fills the air on a well-manicured street in the east London suburb of Woodford. Janna Nordrick is cooking Sunday dinner.

In her large bright kitchen that reflects the earthy colours of the Caribbean, chicken and roast potatoes are browning gently on the cooker, as the oil spits and crackles. A large bowl of coleslaw sits on the counter, together with fried plantain, and a serving dish containing little mountains of fresh cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce and grated carrots.

Meanwhile, a steaming bowl of sweetcorn sits in the centre of the counter with a square of butter oozing down from the top like ice-cream covered cornets. There’s also the staple of a Caribbean dinner, rice and peas [red beaned stained basmati rice] together with a selection of vegetables – yams, sweet potatoes, green bananas – often referred to as ‘provisions.’ The pièce de resistance is her famous roast chicken.

Nordrick has been cooking since her grandmother taught her at the age of seven. “I was born in the Caribbean, on the island of St Lucia. I was brought up by my grandmother Leah, after my mother left me at three months old to travel to London to join my father. My grandmother thought it was very important for girls to learn to cook and since I adored her I was always keen to learn whatever she had to teach me. I learnt the love of cooking from her. “

Nordrick, a retired sales assistant and mum of two, loves fresh ingredients, like thyme, fresh garlic, onions, believing they have the best flavour. She even goes as far as making her own seasoning.

“Overtime, I have mastered exactly what goes with what to get the very best results. Cooking is like painting a picture for me. The more you do it, the better you’ll become,” she said.

Table drinks too, are often homemade, guava juice, passion fruit juice or just lime juice and water. Nordrick makes her own fruit juices by hand. First, she gathers the fruit – limes for instance and washes them in a large bowl. Then she squeezes the fruit one by one and scoops out the flesh, adding water, elderflower cordial, about four tablespoons of sugar and vanilla essence. Afterwards, she hand mixes everything altogether, strains and leaves the mixture in the fridge to cool, adding ice when it is served.

As in other Caribbean households, Nordrick loves a traditional Sunday Dinner that is always served on Sundays, usually in early afternoon. Given the amount of food that is cooked and served, however, the meal is referred to as ‘dinner.’ The ingredients can be traced back to the Arawaks and the Caribs who are believed to be the first settlers in the Caribbean. However, as the demographics changed through the centuries, so did the new foods that were brought to the islands from Africa, the East Indies, Portugal, Britain and Spain. What involved was a melting pot of different vegetables grown in the Caribbean, such as yams, garlic, coconut, chickpeas, onion, dasheen, okra and cassava.

The current version of Sunday Dinner can be traced back to slavery, when the slave owners would give the enslaved Sunday off and they would make a special day of it – cooking local produce and inviting family and friends to enjoy the day.

For Nordrick, community is still at the centre of the meal. “My grandmother, Leah, was the best cook in the neighbourhood and people would come and ask her to cook for them for weddings, christenings, holy communions and funerals. She would say to me; ‘Come and watch, that is how you learn.’

Janna Nordrick’s coleslaw recipe
1 large white cabbage
3 or 4 large carrots
½ a medium tin of sweetcorn
4 tablespoons of Mayonnaise
4 tablespoons of salad cream
Black pepper/vegetable seasoning