Jamaica

Anyone who lived in Jamaica in the early seventies remembered this endearing commercial, "Lawd, mi feel peckish, mek me go have some bread and butter nuh."

This commercial was probably a spoof on Jamaicans, who are usually declaring , "I could eat something nice."

A large part of our culture is surrounded by cooking food, growing food and serving food. Caribbeans pride themselves as connoiseurs of fine food. Most Jamaicans will tell you in a heartbeat, "Mi no wan no flaw-flaw sumthing to eat."

To them, fast food would not really solve their hunger pangs. Nothing is better than "cook food". Meaning, meat, yams, potatoes, dumplings, etc.

So if a Jamaican says they love you more than cooked food. You are truly loved.

Therfore, it is not unusual that when a Jamaican has a food craving they will travel to the end of the earth to acquire the particular food item.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the Jamaican on the plane with bag and baggage filled with pickled fruit, salt fish and fried fish. By the time they land at JFK the whole plane is filled with vinegar and seasoning. Then they go through customs and an overzealous officer confiscates their goods. If you ever want to see a Jamaican rant, rave and misbehave. Take a trip down to the customs line as the officers help themselves to imported food items.

Granny and I used to talk about peoples' food specialties and cravings all the time.

Like for instance, no one made scrumptious patties like Tastee patty and Tower Isles. If it were mangoes and guineps you craved, nowhere did fruit, like the country groves or Coronation Market in Kingston.

Granny would rate everyone's cooking. She was like the Bake Sale lady. Granny would comment, "You know who make a blue ribbon stew peas?"

I would answer, "No granny, who?"

"Well besides myself, Ms. Myrtle down the road make a lovely stew peas. If you ever see how rich and healthy the peas them look in the pot. She is a real good cook."

Then she would start naming the different family members, "Well, Missy's chicken is good, just like mine. At least that's what the granchildren tell me. She make hers with dumpling and vegetables. The children chew up all the bones when them finish."

Somehow, Granny compared everyone's cooking to hers. She was the role model for superb cooking. Oddly enough, most Jamaicans usually tried to emulate their mother or grandmother's cooking. Perhaps it was because they used all fresh products and put their heart and soul into it.

Granny would continue, "Ms.Cissy make a nice potato pudding and my sister could bake better than Entenmann's."

This was definitely true, when my Aunt and Grand Aunt made cakes. It brought out the sugar addict in you. Their desserts were usually so delectable, that you couldn't just have one piece.

When Granny would say to me, "I could eat something nice."

It usually meant a trip to the closest confection stand. Granny usually craved pink grater cake and cut cake. If you ever wanted to get on Granny's good side a big bar of Cadbury chocolate was her all time favorite. Even when she got older it still put a humongous smile on her face.

Granny like myself, was always a very picky eater, so if she had a craving for something. I knew that we were bound for King Street in search of that particular product. One time, Granny went in search of her cadbury bars and the shop owner tried to sell her another brand.

He said, "Mrs. B, try this, it is imported. Everybody in Jamaica is crazy for this."

Granny looked at the man dryly and commented, "Is it made by Cadbury?"

The man responded, "No".

"Well, then we have nothing to discuss, I like my cadbury bars and that's that. If everybody eating filth I not going to eat it too."

Granny had her favorite brands and if they weren't available she would refrain from eating any other brand until they were able to be purchased. She would usually stock up on them, so that her little stash of goodies would never run low.

After hanging out with Granny for all those years, I too developed a hankering for cadburys. It started off with small pieces and as I got older, I was rewarded with my very own cadbury bar.

It was such a momentous occasion, that I retreated under the cellar of the house to enjoy it in solitude.

I can remember being scolded by Granny for climbing the coolie plum tree to satisfy my cravings. Afterwards, my school uniform was usually torn in shreds, but the accomplishment of retrieving a handful of coolie plums, put me in the land of euphoria. If I wasn't doing that, then I was waiting under the star apple tree hoping and praying to catch a nice ripe star apple when it fell.

When I got older, the girls and I at school developed a barter system, we would trade naseberries and Aetioti apples, for june plums and cherries.

If they craved any fruit badly enough, they were willing to do any task you asked them to for a bag of nice refreshing fruit. Including playing pranks on our peers.

Granny would always say, "You know Mags, Jamaica has so many nice tings that we've left behind."

I would respond, "Yes Granny, but you know that's why it's so important to have a "Little Jamaica" wherever you go. Because you always have access to the foods you crave or miss from back home.

Then she would go off on a tangent talking about everything in moderation....recalling a story of a church sister's daughter. Apparently she craved strawberries and when her child was born, the baby had a strawberry birthmark. Maybe it was just a coincidencce, but food cravings can sometimes get the better part of us.

How many times have we craved a particular item and after we got it. We indulged until it made us feel ill. Being so far away from Jamaica makes us yearn for its rich bounty of fruits and delicacies. However, I'm sure that if we had a ackee or breadfruit tree outside our house. They would probably wither and rot.

Human nature always makes us crave what is missing from our lives. After we've had our fill we're usually satisfied for a long while until the next episode.

Food Cravings are important because usually its our body's way of telling us what nutrients we lack. It is said, that if human beings indulge in the things they love, they will live beyond their life expectancy.

I'm sure Granny would say amen to that.