Rosemary Parkinson, Gleaner Writer
Left: Emeril Lagasse doing his thing. - PHOTO BY ROSEMARY PARKINSON. Right: Donnette shows off some mouth-watering pastry. - CONTRIBUTED
EMERIL LAGASSE cooking oxtail on his show? Ebony showcasing several Jamaican and Caribbean dishes? Rachael Ray expounding on jerk? Bon Appetit devoted to our cuisine? Well, well, well. Finally the world is taking note. But are we?
We have loved our food to perdition; we fill cabins of planes, boats (whatever takes us abroad) with aromas of everything but our Caribbean kitchen sinks - just in case our particular specialty is not available at our destination. We revere our cuisine alright, but guess what? We have never given it the real, true time of day as a tool to lure visitors to our shores. We still cook American food for Americans instead of Caribbean food. Imagine I go into a hotel in the United States and demand ackee and saltfish? Or marrow and scrambled eggs with Johnny cake on the side.
STRUTTING TRADITIONAL FOOD
But suddenly, because those in the know abroad say Caribbean cuisine is tops and 'foodies' from all over the world will be flocking to us, we will be strutting our traditional food - and rightly so. But the domino effect is going to start kicking in. From one food show host to another, from one magazine to another, it's going to be about Caribbean food. Added to this, the Caribbean Tourism Organisation is working to ensure that other magazines do what Bon Appetit has done; tourist boards following in their wake feverishly. This combination of efforts, a catalyst for the hype. That's also fine. But, but, but. The real question we should be asking now is: Are we ready? I mean truly ready? Do we comprehend what this means? And if we don't (and I believe this to be embarrassingly so), who is making sure that people in the food business who are teaching, writing about food, understand the enormity of it all.
Now I am not one to look to our government bodies to do everything, but certainly they have to play a part, one that needs to be addressed - educate the people. And people who are in positions to do so, must definitely educate ourselves. We better know our food, really know our food. We better get our teaching and training right. We better get our restaurants in shape, our service in shape, our creativity in shape, our bodies in shape to stand the long, rigorous hours that this business will bring.
STOP MAKING EXCUSES
The time has come to stop making excuses such as "de chef need time to settle een" or "de chef had a bad feel today", even "de chef dead" won't cut it anymore. If at 8:00 a.m. callaloo run out, make more. 'Run out' before breakfast time done. The only 'run' we can talk about now is how much more 'rundown' should I prepare?
Gone are the days of:
"Can-you-my-customer-please-leave-the-premise-now-at-10-on-a-Friday-night-'cause-me-'ave-a-headache" when having finished dinner, drinks that were happily sold, are still on the table being enjoyed.
Chatting on cellphones in front of customers.
Hissing teeth when patrons are a little fussy.
Getting angry when the diner complains.
Looking unkempt and untidy.
Unclean toilet facilities.
No creativity in food.
Poor presentation of food.
Plastic plates and paper napkins where bills run you up some J$3,000 for two bananas, a teaspoon of ackee, two plantain tarts and a juice.
Bad food at gourmet prices.
All this and more that we have ignored is - all done. Finito. Passé. As we speak, thousands are going to be booking us for breakfast, lunch and dinner and these people want great food at decent prices with excellent service.
There is more. 'Foodies' like to ask questions. So out is, "de yam grow so, because we like it so" or "we like peppah so we eat it." We must, as a country, be able to give an insight into where yam is grown, why it is grown on sticks. Why Scotch bonnets? How come jerk? Why ackee or sweet potato pudding, or the best coffee in the world? Good conversation about our food history is an integral part of the welcome we must give because these people want to know, not just to taste.
BOTTOM LINE
This is the bottom line Ð ÔfoodiesÕ donÕt make joke. If we do not provide, our sudden celebrity status will be ripped from under us as fast as it came.
Remember, the Caribbean is being showcased as an entity, as a total whole. Whilst this augurs well for our renewed efforts to unite, giving us an opportunity to view the region as a possible food basket, with trade sparking off agri-tourism and a feed-ourselves programme second to none, it also poses heavy responsibilities. If people in search of the ultimate food experience come to one or part thereof of this group and donÕt get what they are expecting, dem vex and gone to the island that will. And then what? A sad imbalance, thatÕs what. It is here already with Barbados. Capital of Caribbean cuisine, it has been nominated. Now how did an island so tiny, an island that when Jamaica already was known for its hotels, fancy food and service had only but two to their name, an island with fewer foods than we have, that imports 75 per cent of its foods, get this distinction?
SAW THE LIGHT
They saw the light and acted upon it and now that Caribbean food is at the top, Barbados done ready. This was not so just two years ago. They had restaurant but also bad food, obnoxious service and high prices. I wrote an article about this. Snatched from The Gleaner website by The Nation newspapers; it was dissected, written about (in agreement) by a popular columnist, added to the many complaints received in this direction and two years later, the island is a different place. Barbados took note. Grabbed all the criticism received from all quarters, took it as constructive and acted. Now they are beating us table for table, napkin for napkin, silverware for silverware, dish for dish in the gourmet field. Beating us rum shop for rum bar, market for market, pun de side oÕ de road to side-ah-road, eatery to cookshop.
Jamaica, because of its historic placement in the tourist industry, continues to get more Ôair-playÕ if you will than the other islands, and this is a great advantage. But if we do not take the opportunity now, and I mean now, to fix our problems; if we do not start striving to be the best, accepting criticism as a tool to go forward and stop thinking we know it all; even that placement will do us not one iota of good.
We cannot continue to sit on past laurels. Not thinking of the present will give us no future. Next week we will start with the history of food to begin the process of food healing.
'God does wear pyjamas, but he don't sleep.'
- Jeanette Layne-Clarke, Barbadian journalist and author, as Lickmout Lou.
