Jamaican Food

Craig and Shaun McAnuff are bringing Da'Flava from the Caribbean to your kitchen! We're Craig and Shaun, two brothers from South London, but with Jamaica in our hearts and souls. Our Mum and Nanny taught us to cook, and Original Flava is all about meals that are vibrant, lively, exciting, and full of the influences from different cultures that make the Caribbean island of Jamaica so wonderful. That's why we've travelled to Jamaica to bring you its authentic and fresh FLAVAs! Our motto is EAT: we make our recipes Easy, Accessible and Tasty. We want to give you platefuls that taste like grandma's food so there are recipes for classics like Ackee 'n' Saltfish and Curry goat, and Caribbean favourites from home such as Garlic butter lobster and Trini doubles. We also like to twist it up a likkle to give dishes our modern spin, so you can find recipes for Honey roasted jerk-spiced salmon, Plantain beanburgers and Banana fritter cheesecake. The most important thing, we think, is the togetherness food brings – the same happiness we have with our family. We want to share this joy: a testament to the culture of Jamaica, the fun, fantastic FLAVAs, and the stories behind the food, straight from the people of Jamaica. So, get your ingredients, turn on a likkle music, and let's get cooking!

“In these kaleidoscopic stories of Jamaica and its diaspora we hear many voices at once. All of them convince and sing. All of them shine.”—Zadie Smith An O: The Oprah Magazine “Top 15 Best of the Year” • A Well-Read Black Girl Pick Tenderness and cruelty, loyalty and betrayal, ambition and regret—Alexia Arthurs navigates these tensions to extraordinary effect in her debut collection about Jamaican immigrants and their families back home. Sweeping from close-knit island communities to the streets of New York City and midwestern university towns, these eleven stories form a portrait of a nation, a people, and a way of life. In “Light-Skinned Girls and Kelly Rowlands,” an NYU student befriends a fellow Jamaican whose privileged West Coast upbringing has blinded her to the hard realities of race. In “Mash Up Love,” a twin’s chance sighting of his estranged brother—the prodigal son of the family—stirs up unresolved feelings of resentment. In “Bad Behavior,” a couple leave their wild teenage daughter with her grandmother in Jamaica, hoping the old ways will straighten her out. In “Mermaid River,” a Jamaican teenage boy is reunited with his mother in New York after eight years apart. In “The Ghost of Jia Yi,” a recently murdered student haunts a despairing Jamaican athlete recruited to an Iowa college. And in “Shirley from a Small Place,” a world-famous pop star retreats to her mother’s big new house in Jamaica, which still holds the power to restore something vital. Alexia Arthurs emerges in this vibrant, lyrical, intimate collection as one of fiction’s most dynamic and essential authors. Praise for How to Love a Jamaican “A sublime short-story collection from newcomer Alexia Arthurs that explores, through various characters, a specific strand of the immigrant experience.”—Entertainment Weekly “With its singular mix of psychological precision and sun-kissed lyricism, this dazzling debut marks the emergence of a knockout new voice.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Gorgeous, tender, heartbreaking stories . . . Arthurs is a witty, perceptive, and generous writer, and this is a book that will last.”—Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties “Vivid and exciting . . . every story rings beautifully true.”—Marie Claire

This collection offers the island's best recipes, both traditional and the new, from Jamaica's hottest chefs and restaurants, including Norma Shirley of Norma at the Wharfhouse, Everett Wilkerson of the Sans Souci Lido and James Palmer at Strawberry Hill, to name only a few. Over 60 full-color photographs, all shot on location, illustrate this beautiful collection. Lively essays by food writers John DeMers and Norma Benghiat on the island's culture and history, explanations of special ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes make this the most complete guide to Jamaican food.

Food in the Caribbean reflects both the best and worst of the Caribbean's history. On the positive side, Caribbean culture has been compared with a popular stew there called callaloo. The stew analogy comes from the many different ethic groups peacefully maintaining their traditions and customs while blending together, creating a distinct new flavor. On the negative side, many foods and cooking techniques derive from a history of violent European conquest, the importation of slaves from Africa, and the indentured servitude of immigrants in the plantation system. Within this context, students and other readers will understand the diverse island societies and ethnicities through their food cultures. Some highlights include the discussion of the Caribbean concept of making do—using whatever is on hand or can be found—the unique fruits and starches, the one-pot meal, the technique of jerking meat, and the preference for cooking outdoors. The Caribbean is known as the cradle of the Americas. The Columbian food exchange, which brought products from the Caribbean and the Americas to the rest of the world, transformed global food culture. Caribbean food culture has wider resonance to North, Central, and South America as well. The parallels in the food-related evolution in the Americas include the early indigenous foods and agriculture; the import and export of foods; the imported food culture of colonizers, settlers, and immigrants; the intricacies of defining an independent national food culture; the loss of the traditional agricultural system; the trade issues sparked by globalization; and the health crises prompted by the growing fast-food industry. This thorough overview of island food culture is an essential component in understanding the Caribbean past and present.

How do diasporic writers negotiate their identities through and with food? What tensions emerge between the local and the global, between the foodways of the past and of the present? How are concepts of culinary ‘tradition’ and ‘authenticity’ articulated in Caribbean cookery writing? Drawing on a rich and varied tradition of Caribbean writings, Food, Text & Culture in the Anglophone Caribbean shows how the creation of food and the creation of narrative are intimately linked cultural practices which can tell us much about each other. Historically, Caribbean writers have explored, defined and re-affirmed their different cultural, ethnic, caste, class and gender identities by writing about what, when and how they eat. Images of feeding, feasting, fasting and other food rituals and practices, as articulated in a range of Caribbean writings, constitute a powerful force of social cohesion and cultural continuity. Moreover, food is often central to the question of what it means to be Caribbean, especially in diasporic and globalized contexts. Suitable for undergraduates, postgraduates and scholars, the book offers the first study of food and writing in an Anglophone Caribbean context.

Here is a wonderful array of tempting dishes as lively as the people of Jamaica themselves. Sample famous, spicy Jamaican-style soups and stews with an African beat, English dishes with mango and tamarind, island influences in Asian dishes, and many more delicious, traditional Jamaican treats.

A lush, modern vegetarian cookbook celebrating the bold flavors and unique ingredients of the Caribbean In Provisions, Michelle and Suzanne Rousseau share 150 recipes that pay homage to the meals and market produce that have been farmed, sold, and prepared by Caribbean people -- particularly the women -- for centuries. Caribbean food is often thought of as rustic and unrefined, but these vibrant vegetarian dishes will change the way we think about this diverse, exciting, and nourishing cuisine. The pages are spiced with the sisters' fond food memories and fascinating glimpses of the islands' histories, bringing the region's culinary past together with creative recipes that represent the best of Caribbean food today. With a modern twist on traditional island ingredients and flavors, Provisions reinvents classic dishes and presents innovative new favorites, like Ripe Plantain Gratin, Ackee Tacos with Island Guacamole, Haitian Riz Djon Djon Risotto, Oven-Roasted Pumpkin Flatbread, and Caramelized Fennel and Grilled Green Guava with Mint. Stunning full-color photographs showcase the variety of these dishes: hearty stews, easy one-pot meals, crunchy salads, flavorful pickles, preserves, and hot sauces, sumptuous desserts, cocktails, and more. At once elegant, authoritative, and accessible, Suzanne and Michelle's recipes and stories invite you to bring fresh Caribbean flavors to your table.

The Caribbean Cuisine Cookbook includes a mixture of cooking techniques, flavours, spices and ingredients from the indigenous people of the Caribbean islands. Caribbean cooking is strongly influenced by the Spanish, British, Africans, Indian and Chinese

Over 100 million Americans go on some sort of diet each year, searching for that single elusive meal plan that will result in optimal health. But it’s clear that a one-size-fits-all diet simply doesn’t work--we are just too different from one another to follow the exact same diet and see identical results. How is it that some people thrive on a vegetable-centric diet, or can drink milk without gassiness or bloating? An important factor in what makes us unique is the genetic variability we’ve inherited from our ancestors, and what our great-great-grandparents ate could have a bigger impact on our health than we once thought. The Heritage Cookbook will help make sense of how our ancestors’ genes affect our health today. As New York Times bestselling author Russ Crandall searched through his own genetic heritage to connect the dots between his family history and unique dietary needs, he stumbled upon the burgeoning field of nutritional genomics and the scientific links between genetics, nutrition, and health. Teaming up with nutritional researcher Kamal Patel, the two friends spent years methodically investigating the relationship between food and the human genome. Navigating the complex tapestry of modern ethnic groups, they break down the most common ancestries found in the United States, identifying both vital and problematic foods that interact with the ancient and recent genetic adaptations nestled in your DNA. To ensure that you can fully utilize this research, they walk you through the process of tracing your family tree and taking your first genetic test, in order to determine your unique heritage and paint a broad picture of who you are at a genetic level. As with his celebrated debut, The Ancestral Table, Crandall painstakingly combed through traditional and historical cuisines from every corner of the world to develop a magnificent, timeless cookbook fitting for any kitchen. Featuring over 400 beautifully (and deliciously) crafted recipes organized by region, The Heritage Cookbook presents itself in a way that lets you build a healthy and delicious diet regardless of your unique background. Moreover, these timeless dishes that span the globe--like Traditional English Roast, German Sauerbraten, Pakistani Sindhi Biryani, or Filipino Pochero--reunite us with our recent ancestors, and will fill your home with the aromas of kitchens long past. Comprehensively researched and masterfully sculpted, The Heritage Cookbook is a rare triumph that asks big questions and delivers big answers, all while thoughtfully connecting each of us with our forebears (and one another). Equal parts elegant cookbook, deeply personal memoir, and nutritional game-changer, The Heritage Cookbook is the next big step in how we approach food and health.

»Caribbean Food Cultures« approaches the matter of food from the perspectives of anthropology, sociology, cultural and literary studies. Its strong interdisciplinary focus provides new insights into symbolic and material food practices beyond eating, drinking, cooking, or etiquette. The contributors discuss culinary aesthetics and neo/colonial gazes on the Caribbean in literary documents, audiovisual media, and popular images. They investigate the negotiation of communities and identities through the preparation, consumption, and commodification of »authentic« food. Furthermore, the authors emphasize the influence of underlying socioeconomic power relations for the reinvention of Caribbean and Western identities in the wake of migration and transnationalism. The anthology features contributions by renowned scholars such as Rita De Maeseneer and Fabio Parasecoli who read Hispano-Caribbean literatures and popular culture through the lens of food studies.