Curry Flavor! – Explore the Caribbean with Debbie

Jamaica must be one of the hottest Caribbean destinations when it comes to food. There are plenty of exotic foods to be discovered on this Reggae Island and as a direct result many food festivals are being organized.  more…

Jamaica must be one of the hottest Caribbean destinations when it comes to food. There are plenty of exotic foods to be discovered on this Reggae Island and as a direct result many food festivals are being organized. The most popular food in Jamaica is “Jerk” a rather spicy dish that dates back to the origin of this fantastic Caribbean Island. Jerk is made out of pork, chicken or fish that is seasoned with mixture of spices such as pimento or allspice, nutmeg, thyme and off course various peppers! Try a little before you take your first full bite! I just got an email of a Debbie user about the Annual Jamaica Curry festival which was held last Sunday the 19th of December in Turtle River Park, situated in the centre of Ocho Rios, one of Jamaica hottest tourist destinations and which is -among many other highly attractive features- wildly popular for the Dunn’s River Falls and excellent all inclusive resort hotels. Some of Jamaica’s leading chefs showed off their skills and creativity while visitors could learn about the differences of tastes (and use of spices) in different Jamaican regions. What to think about Curried Ice cream? Sounds Yummy!! It’s incredible how divers Caribbean food and the food taste of the Caribbean people actually is. For example, most Cubans who I know would not touch a spicy curry with a stick; let alone prepare one. A key difference between Jamaica and other Caribbean Islands is the mixture of African and East Indian cultures with the English colonizers who took over the Island from the Spaniards in 1655 and of course the Chinese and Indian immigrants who came over as laborers after the abolishment of slavery and brought their spices with them!

By no means this curry festival is meant to be an adult only event. While Jerk mainly comes in the flavor “HOT”, curries can be rather mild and therefore perfectly suitable for kids. Also the entertainment was top! The fire and limbo dancers are a spectacular act to watch regardless your age and especially for kids there was a merry-go-round, a mechanical bull and other fun stuff to explore! In between the different curries everyone got to enjoy a hot musical act, or was it the other way around? It is hard to come up with a better way to spend a sunny day than checking out a festival somewhere in Jamaica. This could just be one of the Caribbean events I am going to check out next year!