Prep and Ting: Food Culture and Intentional Living
There’s a conversation that doesn’t happen enough in Caribbean communities; the one about how we eat, why we eat the way we do, and what changes when the food we grew up on isn’t just around the corner anymore.
Aria Collins knows this firsthand. Born and raised in Grenada, she moved to Brooklyn as a teenager, and eventually relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina. That move changed her relationship with food in ways she didn’t expect. Without easy access to Caribbean restaurants and grocery stores, she had to get intentional about what she was eating, how she was preparing it, and what cultural habits she was carrying without questioning them.
That journey became Prep and Ting; a Caribbean-centered approach to meal prep and wellness that isn’t about giving up the food you love. It’s about understanding how you prepare it, how much you’re eating, and learning to actually listen to your body.
In this conversation, Aria and I went deep on the things so many Caribbean people carry around food. The “clean your plate” conditioning. The massive American portion sizes that become normal once you’ve been here long enough. The Sunday cooking rituals that feel sacred but sometimes need to be reimagined. The oils and preparation methods that strip our perfectly good ground provisions and ingredients of their nutritional value.
What stood out to me is something Aria said clearly: Caribbean food is not unhealthy. The ingredients we grew up with: the ground provisions, the fruits, the spices etc. are good for us. The issue is often in how we prepare them and how much we eat at one time. And honestly, a lot of that comes from cultural conditioning that we’ve never had a reason to question until our bodies start telling us something different.
We also talked about the Caribbean Diaspora Experience Model, how your geography shapes your connection to culture. When you’re not in a place like New York where Caribbean food and community are ambient, you become more intentional. You make the effort. Aria’s story is a living example of that: moving to a place that reminded her of home in some ways but required her to rebuild her cultural connection through food, on her own terms.
This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt like they had to choose between eating well and eating Caribbean. You don’t. But it does take awareness, a willingness to examine old habits, and the understanding that consistency doesn’t mean perfection.
Connect with Aria Collins:
Instagram: @prepandting
Website: www.prepandting.com
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