Journal of a Jamerican: Five Favorite Childhood Memories Growing Up as a Jamaican-American

Though both African-Americans and Caribbean-Americans historically endured colonization and slavery, there are significant cultural distinctions between the two groups. As a first-generation Jamaican-American I grew up feeling proud of my Jamaican heritage. Here are some of my favorite things:

1. Curry Goat – My mom told me when she was pregnant with me, she constantly craved curried goat. It is no wonder then that my favorite Jamaican dish has always been curried goat. When I’m visiting family in Florida over the holidays, my Uncle Sylvestor usually makes a huge pot of it which we all enjoy as part of dinner.

2. Christmas Cake – Every Christmas holiday, my dad made Jamaican Christmas cake, also known as rum cake and let me tell you, my dad’s cakes were so delicious! Using simple ingredients like flour, molasses, brown sugar, butter and currants, he would bake as many as ten Christmas cakes and send them to family. I’d sometimes help him with mixing ingredients and I must admit, I was really good at licking the bowl!

3. Bob Marley – My parents took me to see Bob Marley and the Wailers perform at Madison Square Garden in the summer of 1978 on the Kaya tour. I was five, so I don’t remember it. But I do remember hours spent on a rocking horse or jumping up and down on my bed while Marley was playing and there are simply too many favorite songs to list here.

My dad grew up as a youth in Jamaica running in the same circles as Marley, Peter Tosh, and the Barrett brothers (bass and drums for the Wailers). He’d tell me how they’d all meet at the pier and get jobs on big boats helping the fishermen throw nets.

So I was very familiar with Marley’s music growing up. As I got older, the profundity and depth of his lyrics were revealed to me, allowing me to have even more of a deeper richer experience of his incredible music.

4. Jamaican Cook-Outs – Back in the day, my grandma’s summer party events were legendary. She’d rent several buses for people to ride in up to the event site, usually somewhere in upstate New York, like Bear Mountain. There’d be bass-heavy reggae music blasting from a wall of speakers, people dancing, laughing or at a table playing dominoes, or perusing the several rows of tables laden with so many types of yummy food that it’s hard not to eat too much. I imagine a cook-out by Jamaicans would be very similar to a cook-out by African-Americans, except with Jamaican dishes like curry chicken, jerk chicken, rice and peas, fried plantain, curry goat, ox tail, etc. (they’d both have macaroni and cheese though!) So much fun!

5. Milo – Growing up, my younger brother and I didn’t drink Nestle Quick or Ovaltine. For hot chocolate, we used a brand called Milo, imported from Jamaica, manufactured in Australia. Granted the chocolate granules were too big to perfectly dissolve in milk (no matter how much you stirred it!), the unique taste was like no other and I loved it!

I’m super excited for you to meet Raymond, an ambitious boy from Jamaica who can’t wait to move to America, in my new picture book, “It’ll be Irie” arriving July 1st, 2023! Here’s a link for more info: https://cardinalrulepress.com/collections/new-releases-coming-soon/products/itll-be-irie