If you are going to represent Jamaican food you have to come correct. Here are 5 rules you must follow if you are going to represent Jamaican food.

Rule No. 1
Culturally speaking Jamaicans do not take kindly to anyone touching up their food with their bare hands. So when I see a Chef serving what he calls jerk something and his hands are all over the cooked food, you know already that he lacks training.

Rule No. 2
Go to Jamaica and understand the culture and the ingredients. For e.g. Scotch Bonnet pepper is nothing other than that. Yes, I agree it is hard to find, but to get the authentic flavour no other peppers will do.

Rule No. 3
Stop making up recipes that do not exist in Jamaica.

Rule No. 4
When you make a dish that has a Jamaican name it should look exactly how it would in Jamaica.

Rule No. 5
Memba seh there is no short cut to cooking Jamaican food. Hence why there is no such thing as Jamaican fast food. (Perhaps patty and cocoa bread).

Having said that, maybe we have ourselves to blame, lots of thought-provoking questions spring to my head. I think with globalisation things are changing at a rapid pace and people are catching onto ideas and the authenticity of the food is just lost in translation. #savejamaicancuisine

About the Author
Turner Francis is a passionate foodie and health, conscious entrepreneur. From an early age, she developed a love affair with Food and Nutrition. Whilst attending St Catherine High School in Jamaica, it was then that she started to experiment with food.