Picture - Ensemble Vacations Magazine

DETOURS
Worldly
Delights:
Jamaica: from
Jerk to Java
Anita Draycott steps into the kitchens of Jamaica
and finds that she can stand the heat
“White men can jerk,” insists chef
Walter Staib, a self-confessed expert
on Jamaican food and the culinary
ambassador to Sandals Resorts.
Indeed, the German-born chef, who
began his career in Europe, has been
jerkin’ and jammin’ elbow-to-elbow with
local Jamaican cooks at jerk huts, church
suppers and food stalls over most corners
of this lush West Indian island, as well
as foraging in the local markets, fruit
and spice orchards, and rum and coffee
plantations, for more than 30 years.
The first inductee into the Caribbean
Culinary Hall of Fame, Staib has
extensively researched the roots of
Jamaican cuisine at the University of
the West Indies in Kingston.
On a recent visit, Staib led our small
group of ‘foodies’ on a culinary island
romp. The heat was on at our first stop,
Billy’s Roadside Canteen in Middle
Quarters on the south coast. Billy was
tending about 10 Dutch ovens as they
simmered over a pimento wood fire. At this
Jamaican version of a drive-through, locals
pull over, roll down their windows and
order lunch. According to Staib, the cost
depends on how you’re dressed and what
kind of car you’re driving. For tourists like
me that translates into about $5 for a dish
of rice and peas, Billy’s famous pepper
shrimp and a scoop of surprisingly tasty
peanut porridge. These traditional
island recipes have been passed down,
literally by word of mouth, from Billy’s
grandmother.
As we rattled past several fruit stands
and even more rustic rum shacks, Staib
chatted about Jamaica’s culinary heritage
which, by the way, is much easier to
understand than the local Creole patois –
a mixture of German, English, African
dialects and Spanish – which explains
the country’s motto, “Out of many, one
people.” Both English and Spanish
plantation managers planted starchy
crops, such as breadfruit, yams
and cassava, that were cheap fodder
for the slaves. Jamaica’s national dish,
ackee and saltfish, probably began
when a slave brought an ackee seed from
his native Africa and either dropped or
planted it. The fruit is related to the lychee
and has the texture of scrambled egg.
Back in the 1700s Newfoundland sailors
traded dried salt cod to Jamaicans for
rum. Salting the fish was an ideal way to
preserve it in the days before refrigerators.
In addition to nutmeg, allspice, ginger
and mace, 10 species of peppers grow
here, the most important being the fiery
Scotch bonnet used in jerk. More
than a spice, Scotch bonnet is also a
preservative. The original jerk recipe called
for marinating the meat, chicken or fish
in a rub of Scotch bonnet, thyme, onion,
scallions, garlic and allspice, then cooking
it slowly over the ashes from a pimento
wood fire. The word ‘jerk’ probably
originates from charqui, which means
‘dried meat’ in Quechuan.
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62 ENSEMBLE VACATIONS FALL 2009