Tag Archives: jamaican culture

Fav Jamaican Foods

Wednesday, 21 December 2011 15:13
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Well Jamaican food is well known throught the world and it is because of this that you should taste some of this great Caribbean cooking at least once in a lifetime. The food is truly one of a kind and really amazing every time you taste it. Whether it is dinner consisting of rice and peas, or curry goat, or ackee and salt fish. You’re guaranteed to enjoy these meals.

The first big meal I’ll talk about is curry goat which is a Jamaican fan favorite because of the curry and it is something that you must absolutely try some time. The curry goat is made from you guessed it GOAT haha I know it may not sound delicious but it’s just something about that good ole Caribbean cooking that can have the most disgusting sounding food taste REALLY great!

The next best thing to curry goat is definitely the jerk chicken. This is a worldwide fan favorite and its definitely one of my favorites too. When it is seasoned correctly and jerked right, the chicken can be some of the tastiest chicken you’ve ever tasted. Top tip: get a rasta to jerk the chicken for you because for some reason they do it much much better.

The other big food that you’ll love to eat that comes from the small island is definitely Oxe Tails. This is the meat from the tail of a cow. (sounds terrible doesn’t it) It is cooked with butter beans(usually) and also a nice stew. These are just a few meals that are amazingly delicious when it comes to Jamaica and I’ll have pictures of them soon.

Duppy

Saturday, 09 April 2011 23:07
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Do you believe in ghosts? This is one of the fundamental questions you were faced with as a child. Well we all know growing up in Jamaica that duppys was one of the most fundamental things that faced us. Especially while growing up in the rural areas that usually had lots of miles between street lights. This is probably one of the reasons that Jamaicans are such fast runners because as a child walking at night actually meant sprinting between street lights.

Now what happened one time was that we had to go on the back roads and this meant passing a cemetery. A Jamaican cemetery is a different case not just because it’s more open and it’s usually in a dark place where there are no houses or lights close by. So we set out and we walked through the back roads coming from primary school after a nice evening of playing cricket which was exceptionally fun except that it made us stay late.

Being that this was Jamaica you had to go home by foot only and being this late it was good we had a group of about 4 people together and this motivated us to go the back route. Otherwise we would have had to run on the main roads. I had never seen a duppy before but my friend shane had said he saw them multiple times. I even had my friend junior say he saw a rolling calf once. Like who even know what that is? I had never seen that before and to this day I still don’t know what it is.

When we were passing the cemetery being the open nature (no gates, no walls) we could see the mass graves and the bushes, and being that there were NO and I mean absolutely NO streetlights we were a bit scared. It was one of the few times you’d see boys running away scared from something because they thought they saw a ghost. Man I tell you… those were good times.

Don’t fish if you aren’t a good swimmer

Sunday, 31 October 2010 12:17
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They say fishing is what of the more calming things to do. Where a man can just go out and be one with nature, be at peace with himself and have a good time. Fishing is the ultimate stress relief… or so they say. Fishing in Jamaica is different because it is not as sophisticated as fishing in America but in general people tend to have more fun doing it.
Craig and his cousin shane used to always go fishing by the river. On this day he decided to go with j.j and shane. The first thing that they had to do which is important was to dig up worms. This was an endeavor in itself because it required going through deep shrubbery and then digging up dirt where there were wasp’s nests and many other dangers, to get worms. Getting worms would not have been difficult if jj hadn’t disturbed the wasps and sent them coming towards craig and shane.
It was about 3 stings later that craig was running around trying to get rid of the wasps. Eventually they reached the river where they could finally relax and catch some fix. Because of the way Jamaican people fished, it was a bit difficult as they used a line and hook instead of a fishing rod. The line and hook was much simpler to create and gave them much more control over the fishing. Having a line and hook instead of a fishing rod is like having a manual transmission. It gives more control.
They decided to cross the river and this would prove to be problematic, because jj was not a good swimmer. Craig and shane made it across fine but as jj ran bravely into the water, he started to drown. He yelled “help me” and craig saw himself quickly jumping in to save jj. This ordeal would teach the boys that you must be a good swimmer when fishing. Especially in Jamaican waters.

Kingston and Traveling Jamaica tips

Friday, 15 October 2010 21:03
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If you lived in the town then you know just taking a trip into the city can be a very dangerous yet exciting affair. This particular time we decided we would take a long 3 hour drive from the hills of ST Elizabeth to the city of Kingston.
So they set off early in the morning about 5am with Craig and his family hiring a taxing going from the country to the great city of Kingston. Though known for its high crime rate and poor living conditions Kingston can be a very vibrant and beautiful place to visit and that is why the family decided to go. Also Craig’s father had his sister there and he could visit her.
Now Jamaica is a land of contrast and anyone who has not taken a trip like this across Jamaica needs to immediately. Craig had never seen such wonderful scenery. The first part of the trip involved going through Santa Cruz which was an amazing site with stalls selling groceries, many fruit stands. After that there is spur tree hill which is a road that literally wraps around a mountain until you are at the top. Imagine going up a mountain and then looking back on the city from where you came. This is what Craig saw and he enjoyed every bit of it. He had read in the Jamaican gleaner once before that talked about spur tree hill and how it was built.
After that they had to go through Clarendon as after spur tree hill in Manchester they found nothing else that they enjoyed there. Clarendon however was a different story it had many hills and gullies and driving looking at the city below was amazing. After Clarendon they came to Spanish Town St Catherine. This is one of the more amazing cities in Jamaica due to its sentimental value that comes from how old it is. it was an old Spanish colonial town which was taken over upon the capture of Jamaica by the British. Because of this it has many old buildings and a Spanish look and feel to it that has British and African details added.
Now they reached Kingston and went up to the hills of Kingston where the view was amazing. Now tips for Kingston to enjoy it to the max are
Never go to places known to be dangerous as it could mean your life.
Stay in tourist areas
Do not give money to strangers or buy things from people you don’t find trustable.
Here is a photo of the kingston hills view

Journey to the Jamaican style Game shop

Thursday, 07 October 2010 22:18
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If you ask any Jamaican boy, the game shop is where they go to unwind and relax. It is like what reading the Jamaican gleaner is to older people. Now the game shop is where the Jamaican child goes to unwind and socialize and have a good time. This was one of those days when craig and his friends decided to go and play.

Craigs favorite part of school had always been getting out and either going for a swim in the river or going to the game shop as all Jamaican boys do. It was this particular day that he decided with gayle that they should go play mortal kombat ultimate, which had just been introduced to the game shops.

They set out to do it big when they saw T.T a girl that craig liked and deciding to man up craig decided to go talk to her, but found himself getting slapped after only a few mins of conversation. Apparently he learned he cannot comment on womens clothing unless it’s positive. On his way with gayle he decided to take a shortcut that meant he had to cross a busy intersection.

Crossing the street Craig had not looked and being that gayle had stopped. He suddenly saw a car speeding along very quick and it stopped a few feet from him. He was in shock and heard a loud sound and felt something in his pants. He realized what it was and went home.

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