I was interested in this week's post topic, since I believe these were the first foods from Barbados that I ever had. (I did have some Barbadian beer once, though, from the Banks brewery.) And once again, as regular readers will recall, a "biscuit" to much of the world (especially in parts of Europe, or some former European colonies) is what we Americans call a "cookie." Basically both of these are portable dessert pastries. I sampled two kinds of biscuit from the Wibisco company, from their Shirley line--the original, and the coconut flavor.
The roots of Wibisco date back to 1850, when a small bakery, the Barbados Biscuit Company, was established by John Hoad & Company. In 1910 Weiting &Richter started up Wibisco, which stands for the West Indian BIScuit Company. Then in 1945 Sir Kenneth Russell Hunte bought the Barbados Biscuit Company, and then merged it with Wibisco. Finally, in 1996, after some transfer of company shares, Wibisco became part of the Bermudez Biscuit Group of Trinidad. Bermudez includes some other subsidiary companies, including one of the distributors of Wibisco, the Jamaica Biscuit Company. Wibisco employs 300 people, and currently exports to various Caribbean nations, the U.S., Canada, parts of South America, and the U.K. Wibisco, as its name suggests, basically makes biscuits/cookies and crackers. Also, I noticed that the company is not very active on their social media accounts, especially the blog on their website.
Moving on, Barbados is an island of 430 square miles (1113.6 square kilometers), and has a population of about 285,000. About 80,000 folks reside in the capital city, Bridgetown. Barbados achieved its independent state/Commonwealth Realm of the U.K. status in 1966. Aside from sugarcane, its biggest commodity is tourism. Several Barbadians, or those with Barbadian heritage, have become quite famous. For example, in music there's Doug E. Fresh, LL Cool J, Grandmaster Flash, and Rihanna. As far as actors/actresses go, there is Cuba Gooding, Jr., who acted is such films as "Coming to America" (1988), "Boyz n the Hood" (1991), "Jerry Maguire" (1996, for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award), "As Good as It Gets" (1997), and "The Butler" (2013). Jada Pinkett Smith, who was in such films as "Menace II Society" (1993), "The Inkwell" (1994), "Demon Knight" (1995), and the last two "Matrix" movies (2003) also has Barbadian heritage. Sam Seale played 10 years in the NFL (1984-93) as a defensive back, with the L.A./Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, and the Los Angeles Rams. Robert Bailey also played defensive back in the NFL, in a career lasting from 1991-2001, with many teams. He was part of two Super Bowl winning teams (the Dallas Cowboys for the 1995 season, and the Baltimore Ravens in 2000) and holds the record for the longest punt return ever, 103 yards, on one of my favorite plays of all time. Two men with Barbadian heritage had important roles in American politics, too. Adrian Fenty was the mayor of Washington D.C. from 2007-11, and Eric Holder was the Attorney General of the U.S. from 2009-15. Finally, in the world of interesting historic crime, the "Gentleman Pirate," Stede Bonnet (1688-1718) was from Barbados. He was a collaborator with the infamous pirate Blackbeard (Edward Teach).
1) Wibisco Shirley biscuits, regular flavor: These were flat rectangles, about 6 cm. by 4.5 cm (about 2.5 inches by 1.75 inches), with a yellowish-brown color, and embossed designs. They were okay, but not great. Kind of bland. So a little disappointing.
2) Wibisco Shirley biscuits, coconut flavor: Same size, shape, and color as the regular ones. Strong coconut taste. Since coconut is not my favorite flavor, I didn't love these. But I do appreciate that they had a stronger taste than the regulars. Overall, then, just mediocre.
In summation, I wasn't wowed by either of these biscuits. I often find that European style biscuits are a little bland. Maybe I'm spoiled by American cookies, which usually are much sweeter. Anyway, it you prefer a more subtle, less sugary biscuit/cookie, you might really enjoy these. Also, if coconut is one of your favorite flavors, you'll probably like that kind, too.
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