The neighborhood is an amalgam of smaller neighborhoods lying south of East New York Ave. between Kings Highway and Nostrand Ave. and, of course, east of Flatbush, a word that comes from the Dutch vlacke bos, meaning “flat woodland” or “wooded plain.” It was formerly known as Rugby and was primarily developed in the 1920s, populated largely by the overflow from neighboring localities. It encompasses Rugby (named by developers in the 1890s); Remsen Village (which took its name from the avenue, which in turn was named for the family of Joris Remsen, an early settler and landowner); Wingate (originally called Pig Town after the many small animal farms there, but later named for Gen. George Wingate, founder of the National Rifle Association); Farragut (named for Adm. David G. Farragut, an American naval hero of the Mexican War and the Civil War); and Erasmus, in the west of the neighborhood. The western section of East Flatbush — bordered by Bedford Ave. — was part of the original Dutch town of Flatbush. Parts of the eastern section — delimited by Rockaway Parkway — were within the original Dutch town of Flatlands. The area was primarily farmland until the 20th century, when developers bought 65 acres in 1892, expecting a promised subway extension. The IRT subway line wasn’t extended along Nostrand Ave. until 1912 when the area grew quickly as a residential neighborhood.

The food of a neighborhood is very important in facilitating transnationalism economically and culturally. The types of food sold is specific to Flatbush and other West Indian transmigrant communities. There are cultural cuisines such as Jamaican restaurants, the many West Indian bakeries (such as Golden Krust), and roti shops. One of the Caribbean restaurants we visited served homemade curry and oxtail as dishes. They mostly had clientele from the neighborhood. This shows that they were servicing the transmigrants living in the community. In a deli we went into they were selling cultural food of the caribbean such as Goya beans, rice from Haiti, bacalao, curry powder, senna pods, mauby bark, aniseed, cerasse, Roopalee brand, basmati rice, corn meal, and casava. This store was directed toward the transnationals from the West Indies. Furthermore, the supermarkets in the neighborhood carried West Indian fruits and vegtables in addition to the fruits and vegetables usually found in a supermarket in New York. These included sweet batata, dry coconut, yuca, chayote, gandules, and Costa Rica yams. #food