By David Williams,
Freelance Writer
WHETHER YOU'RE a serious food lover or a picky eater, we've got a bellyful for you.On Thursdays we've created a forum where you'll find cool stuff that will make your taste buds hot with delight.
From the sinful pleasures of heavenly creations to rib-sticking Jamaican cooking, we've got a weekly treat you won't want to miss.
Our revamped Food section has a blend of juicy new features like Great Eats from your kitchen, a section where you can rave about your best dining experiences, and practical tips to help you mind your table manners.
We've also kept a touch of the old What's Cooking feature -- the recipes of Enid Donaldson-Mignotte and Food Basket -- to serve up a rich and varied menu.So come for the food and stay for all the other amazing discoveries.
Dig in. We promise, eating will never be the same.
It used to be scorned as slave food.
Then for almost 30 years it was dissed by the US as a toxic fruit.
Although we always ate it, even conferring on it the title national fruit, somehow ackee, even when we paired it with saltfish, never seemed to have gotten its due respect.
But these days ackee seems to be gliding into the spotlight as the golden child of Jamaica's agricultural industry. It has even moved on up to the steps of the White House.
What is going on here?
For one thing, ackee in some quarters, has gone haute cuisine. Forget ackee and saltfish. Think ackee quiche, for example.
Then the US in July lifted its 27-year-ban, having satisfied its Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) food safety requirements.
The triumph is not just that ackee has gone abroad now, it has been available in the UK and Canada for decades, but now it will carry some clout. With the opening up of the US market, ackee exports could double from US$10 million to US$20 million within two years, according to estimates. If all goes well, the fruit which was brought to the island by enslaved West Africans, could soon be the island's leading agricultural export to the US.
Ackee's crowning glory came in August, however, when the Jamaican Agro-Processing Association bestowed 'The Order of Ackee' on US Ambssador Stanley McLelland for his pivotal role in having the US ban lifted.
At the ceremony, Ambassador McLelland declared himself overwhelmed and described it as "an incredible honour" to receive the award, saying he would "cherish it for the rest of his life."
THE BUSINESS OF ACKEE
The good news is the lifting of the US ban. The bad news is that we may be in for serious competition to reap the benefits.
For years Jamaica was the only country where the fruit was grown on a large scale and widely recognised as an edible food crop.
There are reports that several other Caribbean islands, Mexico, Costa Rica, Florida and even Hawaii are getting in on the act.
"...we need to investigate since it will impact on our marketing strategies," said Director of Agribusiness at the Jamaica Promotions Organisation (JAMPRO), Audrey Wright.
Mexican researchers have taken a serious interest in the fruit, and are among the first to conduct comprehensive evaluations of its nutritional value.
Marco Antonio Huerta, Trade and Corporations Officer in the Mexican Embassy in Kingston, was unable to confirm whether Mexico was developing a large-scale export ackee industry. He added, however, that Mexico had a number of scientific programmes in the areas of agricultural research and development in which it had been co-operating with Jamaica.
In the meantime local authorities are scrambling to figure out how to take advantage of ackee's fortunes. Only two of the island's 16 processors have already reached full compliance with US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) food safety requirements and can therefore begin exporting. About 700,000 cases of ackees must be produced each year if Jamaica is to reap a projected annual windfall of US$40 million from ackee exports.
The industry has yet to determine the size of the overseas market but, said Mrs. Wright, it is clear that demand is outstripping supply.
"We don't have enough ackee to can for export. We're not even able to satisfy our existing market right now."
To step up production ackee has been picked as the main cropin the Ministry of Agriculture's tree crop project. Already, 100 hectares out of a total 880 hectares of ackee orchard have been planted under the three-year project.
JAMPRO officials noted that the increased production and export were aimed at moving ackees beyond the ethnic food market of metropolitan immigrant communities into the mainstream market of major supermarket chains in Canada, the US and the UK.
In the meantime, Jamaicans living abroad have resorted to a variety of methods to satisfy their ackee craving. Some have gone high tech to scout out the best prices.
Here are some of their comments, taken from a web-forum hosted by jamaicans.com.
"Mi did feel fi some ackee and saltfish fi mi breakfas' ah mawning and decide fi go buy a few tins ah ackee," writes 'First Human', a Jamaican living in Toronto, Canada. "Guess how much fi one deggay tin? US$8.99," almost double the previous retail price of C$5.
'First Human' has a theory about why the beloved fruit is now playing hard to get. "Mi hear seh from it start fi cross di barder (into the US) it nuh have no time fi di locals (Canadians) henymore."
In England, according to Sparky, a scientific assistant from Kent, a craving for ackee can cost 2.99 pounds per tin. And if that isn't bad enough, indications are that the price will rise as the Christmas season approaches, he said.
Jamaicans in the US don't seem to be faring much better than their Canadian and British counterparts in their quest for ackee. "$10 an' change" is the price to be paid for the Jamaican staple in the US ethnic food market."
On the bright side, though, there have been reports of shops in Brooklyn, New York, selling ackee at the comparably reasonable price of US$5 a tin.
It was 'Jabritusa', a clerk from Dallas, Texas who alerted the others about the Brooklyn price. "In Brooklyn NY it proudly sells for $5 a tin. Big up New York!!" she declared.
Local prices are about $30 per dozen.
