Because my family is from Jamaica, I know the food very well. I grew up eating Jamaican food. I have many favorite dishes: ackee and saltfish (the national dish), jerk pork, curried goat and beef patties. You can get all of these in Brooklyn. Many of the tropical fruits I've encountered on the island were new to me, though.
My landlady has a garden and I try many new fruits from it. I'd never had soursop, sweetsop, June plum or Otaheiti apple. She also has a lot of mangos, sugar cane and ackee. In addition to new fruits, I've been a frequent taster of Jamaica's world-famous Devon House ice cream. I have tried every flavor available!
It's very fortunate that I love all these fruits, because I get a lot of them every week. Now that they are in season, I will get them even more!
Many of the most famous Jamaican meals take a very long time to cook. Our food is not fast food, which makes it pretty healthy. Jerking is a process that cures the meat and makes it very highly-seasoned.
