Tales from
Cook and writer Melissa Thompson tells Prudence Wade about why she’s tracing the history of Jamaica through food...
ACKEE and saltfish are undeniably linked to Jamaica, but how did that come to be? That’s one of the many questions that constantly swirl around the head of food writer and cookbook author Melissa Thompson, who says she’s “always been interested in the stories behind food”.
The food of Jamaica – where her father is from – particularly piques her interest. “Ackee and saltfish just rolls off the tongue, it’s such a classic dish. But those things are quite odd, when you think about it – there’s ackee, then there’s saltfish. They’re not necessarily a natural pairing,” Melissa muses.
“How did they become [one], who thought to put them on a plate together? It works so well, but obviously everything has a beginning.”
Melissa, 41, was surprised to learn ackee isn’t originally from Jamaica, despite being synonymous with the country’s cuisine (it’s actually native to West Africa and came to the Caribbean through the slave trade).
“I was looking for a book that satisfied my curiosity about the history of Jamaican food,” she says, but “it didn’t really exist” – so she decided to write Motherland.
She refers to her debut as a “cookbook with this historical narrative”, with Jamaican recipes interwoven with powerful essays about the history of the country, particularly the impact of slavery and colonisation.
She first learned about Jamaican food from her father, who she describes as “a magpie when it comes to flavours”. He was in the navy and picked up lots of different cuisines from his travels, but it’s his Jamaican cooking that seems to have stuck with Melissa the most.
“He’s a very poor delegator when it comes to cooking, so I just observed,” she remembers fondly. “Sometimes, I got to help make the dumplings and all that stuff, but really I’d watch him – maybe I’d flake the saltfish.”
It was when Melissa moved out of home and went to uni that she started cooking the dishes of her childhood.
“When the people who cook the food you’ve grown up with are no longer living with you, you have to cook it for yourself, to satisfy the craving.”
She got to experience Jamaican food first-hand when visiting the island: “Food is everywhere in Jamaica, whether it’s getting cooked or whether it’s just growing,” Melissa says.
“To me, ackee had always come in a tin and it’s always expensive – like £5 for a tin, so it’s quite a precious thing. I would never be allowed to deal with the ackee, because I’d stir it too enthusiastically and break it all up.
“But the first time we went to Jamaica, it was in season and it blew my mind to hold an ackee pod and see the ackee fruit – it’s beautiful. I couldn’t believe the ground was littered with them – I wanted to take them all, pick them all up.
“Food in Jamaica makes you realise how brilliantly people in the UK do it – how brilliantly my dad has always done it.”
Jamaican immigrants to the UK had to learn how to recreate their cuisine with limited access to the ingredients of their homeland.
Melissa was surprised when she visited the island, saying: “Suddenly, things that are so precious and scarce in the UK are in beautiful abundance in Jamaica, it’s really verdant – my dad would tell me these stories about growing up, climbing trees and eating mangoes to his heart’s content.
“For me, mango has always been one of my most favourite fruits – we’d go to London and buy four, because they were quite expensive. You’d have one each and you’d savour this mango – and all of a sudden there was more mango than you can possibly eat [in Jamaica].
“It’s the same, but obviously massively different, because you’re seeing the cuisine at its source, at the country of origin. In the environment where these dishes were created, you get to understand it a bit better.”
PEANUT AND SWEET POTATO STEW
Ingredients
1 onion, chopped
Vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2.5cm piece of ginger, finely grated 2tsp ground turmeric
1tbsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander
1tsp ground fenugreek seeds
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 2.5cm cubes
400ml vegetable stock
400g can of red kidney beans, drained 2tbsp peanut butter
2 mature bunches of spinach, washed and roughly chopped, coarse stalks removed Sea salt
Boiled rice, to serve
Method
In a Dutch pot or large saucepan, fry the onion in a little oil. After eight minutes, add the garlic and ginger and cook for another couple of minutes before adding the spices, mixed with a little water to prevent them burning. Stir and cook until the spices become aromatic.
Add the sweet potatoes and stir to coat, then pour in the stock and add the beans and peanut butter. Put a lid on the pot and cook for 10-15 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft.
Remove the lid, mix in the spinach and leave for five minutes until cooked through. Taste, then add salt until seasoned as you prefer. Serve with boiled rice.
Where? Wyndham Arcade
THE HELLENIC EATERY
Another joint feeding the people of the city is the Hellenic Eatery in Cathays. This “Greek alternative restaurant” (so says its website) serves up some of the most delicious gyros, souvlaki, meaty platters in the city – and for an unbelievable price.
If pittas and dip is what you’re after, this place offers houmous, tzatziki and tyrokafteri galore. Starters from £4.80, mains from £6.50 and desserts from £2.
Where? 100 Crwys Road
CALABRISELLA CANTON
Run by three Italians – Salvo, Angelo and Domenico – who met in high school and came to Cardiff together in 2005 to learn English, Calabrisella is a celebration of real Italian cuisine and brings a scrumptious slice of Calabria to Cardiff.
Expect handmade pasta and real Italian pizza, one of Domenico’s specialities, traditional tasty arancini and cannoli from Sicily and so much more. We particularly love their dark chocolate (lactosefree!) ice cream. Prices are just as delicious as their paninos cost as little as £5.
Where? 154 Cowbridge Road East, Pontcanna
WILD THING
Looking for a bite to eat that is plant-based, refined sugar-free and healthy? Non-profit vegan café Wild Thing has your back and offers colourful dishes that are simply stunning and aim to make “good food accessible for all” – as well as getting people eating more vegetables.
With gluten-free, vegan and refined-sugar free options for breakfast, lunches and cakes to sit in or to go, there is something for everyone.
The goals of this café, as stated on the website, are to reduce environmental impacts and fight food poverty. What’s more is that this delightful place in the heart of Cathays offers a ‘pay what you can afford system’ – there are suggested prices but you need only pay what you can.
Where? 36-38 Cathays Terrace
FALAFEL CORNER
If you’re struggling for where to pop to for lunch and don’t fancy blowing your earnings on a full-blown restaurant meal, Falafel Corner has your needs taken care of.
As the name suggests, the salad bar specialises in authentic falafel and is a vegan friendly takeaway, offering fresh Middle Eastern food prepared right in front of you – and it’s cheap as chips.
They say their meals are “nutritious, delicious, and affordable” and with their falafels being baked, it makes them light, healthy and tasty. Get a loaded