Traveling Jamaica with Knife, Fork & Spoon
December 1994
ISBN-10: 089594698X
In review:
“Like almost no other food writer around, Robb Walsh has the knack of getting to places where appetite and hunger remain on intimate terms, and of reporting back on that experience in ways that illuminate both a people and their food.”
– John Thorne,
From Publishers Weekly:
“Out of many, one people” is the national motto of Jamaica, where a wide-ranging cuisine reflects the immense diversity of a culture that draws on Spanish, French, British, East Indian and Amerindian influences. During a two-week food odyssey across the island, the authors sampled dishes characteristic of its regions: jerk pork, chicken, ackee and saltfish in Faiths Pen, a strip of highway food stalls en route to the beach resorts of Ocho Rios; an elegant dessert of coffee chiffon at the Blue Mountain Inn, 4000 feet above sea level; Sister Fire’s vegetarian I-Tal Stew, a Rastafarian specialty, in an open-air restaurant on a hill above a beach. Walsh and McCarthy, a chef, pay special attention to the aromas and flavors of native fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, and try to convey the freewheeling attitude necessary for reproducing classic Jamaican food at its exotic best. A glossary of foods and a list of Caribbean food resources are included.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal:
McCarthy, a restaurant chef in San Antonio, Texas, who grew up in Jamaica, and food writer Walsh traveled to the island to explore its regional cooking, tracking down the best “bammies,” “mannish water,” Rastafarian vegetarian dishes, and, of course, jerk, unearthing along the way such delicacies as stinking toe (it’s a tropical plant) custard and peanut wine. They had a wonderful time, and Walsh’s entertaining account of their trip and the cooks, shrimp ladies, and others they encountered sets the recipes in context.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.