Rosemary Parkinson, Gleaner Writer
Rotty's Cookshop Menu in Stony Hill. Bon appétit, enjoyed it all! photos by Rosemary Parkinson
From October 4-5, Jampro - not a moment too late - will be hosting a workshop called 'Flavour Me Jamaican - Exploring Jamaican Local Cuisine', at Rose Hall Resorts, Montego Bay. Today's column then should be of interest.
I was sent a link to a well-visited 'blog' - the Traveller's Lunch Box. As I read, I kept thinking: if I quote bits said here by a husband and wife team, one German, the other American - finally, finally, will this convince our hotel industry, guidebook writers, Jamaicans on the whole what I've been preaching for so long it almost hurts? The world has changed. People want taste and adventure equal to sun, sea, beach. Yep! They want to visit our streets, our markets. They want our delicious, divine (home-cooked or gourmet) Jamaican food. I bet many thought is only me, de mad woman, who seh so. But not dis time. De truth is here and dis is how it go from excerpts of this couple's story:
"... we would have been wary of Montego Bay ... of warnings: "beware - hasslers and pickpockets everywhere!" "don't go downtown by yourself!" "don't even think of leaving your hotel after dark!" The hotels don't ... help the impression either, most of them building foot-thick perimeter walls and hiring armed guards ... many ... all-inclusive plans to make it easy to never even leave the grounds. The guidebooks offer warnings ... telling you to avoid many areas of town ... giving tips on how to cope with the army of persistent touts. But let's be frank here ... it didn't take us long to realise that this is all ... scare-mongering; Montego Bay is as safe, and as fascinating, as just about anywhere we've ever been."
Fortress-like hotel
"... booked into one of the most fortress-like hotels around. The Half Moon is a 400-acre resort ... competes with one or two others for the title of most exclusive resort in Jamaica ... hosts visiting heads of state ... We were ... treated like royalty ourselves, given VIP status and a spectacular suite fronting onto a private beach; cleaners and butlers and doormen seemed to come by in a constant parade wanting to perform one service or another. Still ... I couldn't shake the feeling that everything here was too surreal; in fact, too long spent in the safe, hermetic confines of such uber-luxury left me itchy to get out and experience the dirt, traffic and noise of 'real' Jamaica ... not to mention that most of the food at this palace ... was really pretty mediocre. Breakfast ... worth skipping ... nearly 50 different choices on the buffet table ... two or three ... remotely Jamaican; on the one day ackee and saltfish was offered during our stay it was bland and disappointing ..."
"...feel sorry for the people who would let this be their only taste of Jamaica. We, on the other hand, didn't stop tasting. One day we had a tour of the Appleton Rum estate ... a delicious Jamaican lunch before ... an open bar and 21 different bottles of rum to sample. Another day we visited the Montego Bay food market, a crowded, colourful microcosm of Caribbean life, where plump Jamaican grandmothers coaxed us over to inspect buckets of squirming crayfish, while wiry young men tried to make us deals on enormous jackfruit and melons; we munched on mangoes and soursops that vendors obligingly sliced up for us, apparently pleased to see some rare tourist faces among all the local ones.
"And at night ... dined in some of Montego Bay's fanciest restaurants: The Houseboat Grill on Boque Lagoon, The Sugar Mill on the Half Moon's golf course, Nikkita's on the Hip Strip ... we feasted on innovative and imaginative Jamaican fusion food like Black River shrimp on callaloo mashed potato with curried ackee sauce; jerked crab parcels with salmon caviar and papaya-ginger remoulade; baked ahi tuna on banana tempura with spring vegetables and sweet-sour mango sauce; and filet mignon with Scotch bonnet bearnaise. Most of it was very good ... nonetheless, we couldn't stop comparing everything we ate to the one meal we just couldn't get out of our heads: our first taste of authentic jerk."
Little Ochie
"...It didn't take us long to realise our luck in the food department either ... a lunch at the south coast's most famous eatery, Little Ochie ... to feast on freshly-caught lobster, shrimp and fish pulled from the sea ... tour of their blazing-hot kitchens and grills where a massive team of cooks slice, chop, fry and grill from morning til midnight ... we got to see our own lunch selections, two fat spiny lobsters, be transformed into Little Ochie's most popular dish: the deceptively-named 'garlic lobster' (I would personally call it 'scotch bonnet lobster' as a warning to the unaware). Taming the delicious fire, we tried steamed bammy (a chewy cassava pancake) and festival (sweet corn fritters) ... washed ... with lots and lots of Red Stripe ... we had a chat with the owner ... everyone affectionately calls 'Blackie'. Blackie impressed ... at the age of 18, with no restaurant experience ... he opened Little Ochie as a grill shack here on the beach; 17 years later the 'shack' is serving up to 3,000 people a week, and there is no one in Jamaica ... who hasn't eaten here. We asked Blackie if it wasn't a shame that so few tourists make it out to his restaurant ... he replied, "oh, they do - if they really want to."
"Without a doubt the greatest culinary revelation to be had ... was just eating local. We quickly learned that although tourist-oriented restaurants varied greatly in quality, in places that catered to Jamaicans the food was sensational. The flavors were big and rich and hearty; I was reminded of New Orleans' great Creole cooking ... the deep, robust flavours of ... soul food. Although I'm normally quite a light breakfaster, traditional Jamaican breakfasts were so good that I found myself eating sparingly at night sometimes just so I'd be hungry in the morning. Ackee and saltfish, one of the icons of Jamaican cuisine, is indeed served just about everywhere, and I don't know who could ever turn it down. It is indescribably good, with the tender, savory curds of ackee resembling perfectly-scrambled eggs but much lighter and creamier, absorbing and balancing the intense flavours of the salty fish flakes, the sauteed onions, the tomatoes and peppers. It is, of course, accompanied by plenty of hot sauce, which is de rigueur on every breakfast table. Also ready to mop up that hot sauce are steamed callaloo (a hearty chard-like green also spiced up with plenty of aromatics), fried plantains, and a myriad of starchy options: johnnycakes (deep fried dumplings), sweet potato, boiled green banana (not unlike unripe plantains), bammies and/or roasted breadfruit ...."
I rest my case. For more, see: http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/journal/2006/7/5/anatomy-of-a-jerk.html
Learning is like a design in water, contemplation like a design on the side of a wall, meditation like a design in stone. Adept Godrakpa 'Hermit of Go Cliffs', Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations.
