Jamaica: Vital food and music, tragic literature and dated films, all doused in rum
For an island I’ve never seen, Jamaica has a surprisingly special place in my heart… I guess it’s because the Birmingham/Jamaica link is strong and the music, literature, food, hair and rum, have to be among the best in the world. I therefore had this armchair travel well-planned out when tragedy struck… Since the armchair travels started, we’ve lost several Jamaican institutions. Digbeth’s Earth Kitchen went, then the Handsworth Ital restaurant, then vegan Brummie, poet, actor and musician Benjamin Zephaniah passed away, and finally the wonderful Yumanity closed. Yumanity was a tiny shop that provided many ingredients for the Armchair adventures alongside tips of how to use them. It feels like a tragedy to see Brum lose so much of its Jamaican heritage — use it or lose it, Birmingham!
Luckily we still have Stirchley Wine and Spirits, the global booze emporium who supplied me with Appleton Estate rum, apparently the best in the country. It’s sweet and smooth enough to be called a slugging rather than a slipping rum — great in coffee, on its own, and poured over ice-cream and pineapple. Of course I also drank Red Stripe and Dragon Stout, both of which have been a key part of my life ever since my early days dancing at the Hummingbird.
I also drank Red Stripe at the Brussels fine-dining Jamaican restaurant Chef Wayne. We started with dumplings and chayote before moving onto an aubergine filo basket, and then jackfruit stew. Despite the unique and dedicated nature of this restaurant, we were the only people there — so use it or lose it Brussels!
Birmingham having failed me, I headed to Bristol’s St Pauls to buy callaloo, ackee, plantain and hard bread, hoping to use Sister Woman Vegan’s recipe to make the perfect Jamaican breakfast. And damn it was good. So good in fact that the kids made me promise to make it again. To be honest I could keep eating Ital food forever, thank goodness Birmingham’s Ital Collection still exists… I better use it before I lose it!
There is a whole world of Jamaican literature, and so, spoiled by choice I went for the Booker Prize winner A brief history of seven killings. The word “brief” must be ironic as this tome weighs in at 688 pages — none of which are easy reading. You have to contend with ghosts, rapes, murders, and all kinds of violence, all set against the backdrop of a Bob Marley peace concert. I pretty much hated it all, at times even wondering whether the film American Fiction (about a professor who writes a satire of stereotypical books), was an attack on this. Luckily one of my Canadian correspondents came to my rescue, recommending and lending the incredible How to say Babylon — the must read story of Safya Sinclair’s growth, destruction and regrowth in a Rastafarian community — or how poetry can save your life. It too features a lot of negative masculine energy but it rails against it instead of rolling in it. I fully recommend — especially if read alongside Kei Miller’s Augustown.
Having been burnt by my book choice, I played safe and watched two classic films — Cool Runnings and the Harder they come. The first is a Disneyfied reworking of the story of the Jamaican bobsled team who went to the 1988 winter Olympics. You wouldn’t get away with such one-dimensional and derogatory characters these days, but it was nice to hide in bed and remember the simpler times of the 1990s. Harder they come, however, has aged better as the film that “brought reggae to the world.” Alongside the incredible soundtrack it is a radical tale about how hard it is to break out of poverty. It was the first English language movie to require subtitles in the US!
And so to music — a playlist full of ska, rocksteady, dub, reggae, rap and jungle. It’s hard to believe how much music originated on this relatively small impoverished island and the effect it’s had on music globally is vast. Let me know what I’ve missed!
And so as I head of to Japan, a fond farewell to Jamaica, and a reminder to all to keep the faith!
