Brunch plate (ackee, callaloo, and plantain) with orange juice.

By Yasmin Radbod

I first visited Kingston, Jamaica during my winter holiday break in 2018. I had just completed Femme Fatale Washington, DC’s latest pop-up store in NoMa, and I decided it was time for a vacation. The island was an easy choice. My Jamaican friend in DC had told me about how beautiful and magical her country is. How she runs through the jungles and feels so alive. My eyes lit up. I felt called to see her enchanting homeland. It was rare I had time off, so if not now, when? Jamaica changed my life in many ways. I met wonderful people, I was immersed in the local music scene and culture, I was inspired by Mother Nature, and I fell in love with the abundance of fresh fruits on the side of the road, plus a robust cuisine I had never experienced.

Kingston is the kind of place you could run into a celebrity and no one bats an eye. I remember one time I had just gotten to Stones Throw when I overheard someone say that Shaggy had left about ten minutes before. A friend of mine took me along to a small seaside spot, and I was pleasantly surprised to find a member of Mystic Revealers having a beer and singing some old tunes for everyone. (Check out “Space and Time,” one of my favorite songs.) I spent afternoons hanging out on the same beach where Bob Marley used to jog every morning (RIP).

Ital vegan cuisine, as part of the Rastafarian way of life, is available in most places. You do have to be willing to get to know locals and travel as such. In 2019, I spent a month in Ochos Rios at a sweet little apartment where I could cook for myself. A shop owner there taught me how to prepare and cook one of my favorite foods to this day. (Careful, if not stripped and boiled, it can be deadly!)

This brings me to that wonder-food, the delicious fruit (drum roll, please), ackee. With a long and perplexing history, brought over from West Africa by those forced aboard slave ships, it was later used in colonial Jamaica as a cheap and nutritious food source among enslaved peoples. West Africans carried the seeds with them from their native soil, sometimes wearing them as a necklace along the perilous journey ahead, and planted them in Jamaica. It was not until an Englishman later brought ackee from Jamaica to England, that whites became aware of the plant. Native to what is now modern day Ghana, the Asante (Ashanti) people (Akan) originally called ackee “akye” or “ankye” in Twi, their language which is still spoken throughout Ghana today. Ackee is the national fruit of Jamaica and significantly supports the Jamaican economy. I encourage you to read more online about its origins and history. I am by no means an expert on the topic, and I am very grateful to those who have shared so much knowledge about their people and history. And I am grateful to the Ancestors and all the people who make it possible to enjoy this fruit today.

Ackee is delicious on toasted bread (with or without avocado) and is one third of my go-to brunch plate: ackee with plantains and callaloo. Bright yellow (solar plexus) and loaded with antioxidants, protein and fiber, you can’t go wrong. I highly recommend trying it if you’ve never had it before. And don’t worry, you’ll be buying it prepared, not fresh, so you don’t have to worry about its poisonous seeds!

You can find canned ackee at your local international market. It is a bit expensive here in the US, but worth it (at least once!). All you have to do is drain it. Canned callaloo is also running high these days, but you can substitute it for any green veggies, like spinach or kale. If you’re lucky, you might find freshly shredded callaloo. I fry the callaloo and ackee in one large pan, keeping them separate. In Jamaica, I add a tiny bit of fresh oregano with some fresh thyme to the ackee as it cooks (plus salt). Feel free to add sautéed onion or scallion, too. I keep the callaloo simple with fresh garlic, salt and pepper; sometimes I add a diced tomato. If you like heat, add chilies. Use any oil of your choice: coconut, vegetable, canola, or olive oil if you prefer the flavor. I like coconut. I get a ripe plantain, slice it, and fry the pieces, making sure to flip over so they don’t stick to the pan and burn. You hardly need to fry them long, till golden. Everything here is pretty quick. If you still have room in your tummy, toss an avocado slice in there as the cherry on top, and voilà!

Brunch plate (ackee, callaloo, and plantain) with orange juice (photo above). I highly recommend Jamaican sorrel (hibiscus drink) for the holidays if you can get your hands on some! There’s also some good recipes online if you want to make it yourself. And yes, you can spike it, too.

Of course, you can also use ackee as an egg replacement, you can mash it up to make it appear scrambled. Add your favorite omelette ingredients (mushroom, onion, tomato, etc.), seasoning and some black salt (kala namak) if you want it to really have an eggy flavor. To make it cheesy, sprinkle in some nutritional yeast.

Looking for a hearty dinner plate? Using a casserole dish, oil and add diced yam, pumpkin, potato, plantain, and/or sweet potato. I like to use whatever is locally available. Throw in some veggies of your choice, carrots are a good option. Add some water or vegetable stock (or bouillon). For extra richness, substitute with (or add) coconut milk. Sprinkle some poultry seasoning and lime juice, or keep it simple with salt and pepper for the kids. Let it stew and steam (covered) on the stove for an hour or two, depending on how soft your starches are to start. (You can also boil the potato, yam, etc. for a bit to get soft, then prepare the casserole dish with less cook-time overall, if necessary.) Let it cook to the consistency of your liking. All done! Now you have a colorful dish ready to eat for the whole family. This is also a wonderful choice for a sick day when you want some comfort food without too much flavor. You can also serve it with rice, if you’d like, or keep it as a side dish.

For more Jamaican cuisine, see

https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2013issue1/2013_issue1_jamaican_ital_cuisine.php

https://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2019issue2/2019_issue2_island_ital.php