You don’t cook curry?

I walked right into this one.  I was working on a project with an African/Caribbean theatre company.  My family is from Trinidad.  One of the actors was carefully (and lovingly) explaining to a colleague how to to make a curry (West Indian style).  I interrupted, blurting out (incredibly loudly) – “you don’t know how to make a curry??!” I was answered with – “but I’m not West Indian.” And so, I began to try to crawl out of the hole.  Because, you see, all black people do not know how to make curry.  Same race, different culture.  She was Nigerian.  She did not make curry.  Not part of her food vocabulary.  And of course not.  And I was astounded at myself because I had done that thing that white people do to me – I’d assumed that because she was black (like me)  – well, of course we must cook the same stuff.  My god, I couldn’t stop laughing.  We did manage to come together on the fact that neither of us liked watermelon, but would kill for fried chicken…