Keisha Shakespeare, Staff Reporter
Dukunnu was a favourite dessert in the good old days; it was shunned as 'poor people food', but today, it has graduated to some of society's cocktails and soirees. Made with cornmeal, sugar, raisins, spices and coconut milk, it is neatly wrapped in banana leaves and boiled or baked. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THOUGH THE famous Jamaica proverb says, "The way to man's heart is through his stomach," the same is true for most Jamaicans - male or female.
The immense love that Jamaicans have for their own indigenous foods is like the relationship between the biblical pair of Ruth and Naomi. It was very hard to separate the two. Some Jamaicans get so serious about their food you dare not make jokes about it. No matter the social class, one thing all Jamaicans share in common is the love for 'good food'.
Some people say you can spot a Jamaican in a restaurant from a mile away by the big plate of food that is before him or her. And when Jamaicans travel abroad they never forget their roots. No fancy sushi can ever take the place of sweet potato pudding, jerk pork, rice and peas, and even turn cornmeal or dukunnu.
Though many Jamaicans will not eat these delicious goodies in public they will devour them a second in the privacy of their own homes. Reason being these delectable foods, especially turn cornmeal, are seen as 'poor people food' or food for the dogs. However, if served at a cocktail party on fancy platters, they would probably gobble it up.
Despite the negative connotations that some people attach to these foods, they are a rich part of our Jamaican heritage. Dukunnu, otherwise called 'tie-a-leaf 'or 'blue drawers', is a kind of pudding. It is made of grated corn or banana and spices that can be baked or boiled in banana leaves. Turn cornmeal is made of cornmeal blended with peas, spices, coconut milk, saltfish and whatever you please.
If you want to be fancy you can add shrimp or strips of chicken breast to the turn cornmeal. And for the dukunnu you can add raisins and cut in small cubes when serving to add a bit of elegance.
