When I went to Jamaica, I was a broke college kid. A friend of mine who sold medical supplies won two tickets to Jamaica through work, and I was lucky enough to be their plus-one. We stayed in Montego Bay and spent four days Scooba diving and beach bumming, sampling the country’s world-famous rum, and treading the waterfalls at Ocho Rios with the locals. To this day, it has been one of the best trips of my life.

Don’t come after me for getting box-braids. I did say I was young.

“Independence is we nature. Born and bred in all we do. An she glad fi see dat Government; tun independant to.”

–          Louise Bennett Coverly, Jamaican cultural icon credited with promoting Patois as the national dialect.

My kids have never been to the Caribbean. So for this World Geography Wednesday in Jamaica, we started by watching “Jamaica for Kids – An Amazing and Quick Guide to Jamaica”. The kids were shocked to see the Bioluminescent Lagoon which glows bright blue at night. And all the river rafts carrying people up- and downriver made of nothing but bamboo, twine, and a prayer.

Then we pulled out our maps of North America, the Caribbean, Jamaica, and the capital city of Kingston. We were surprised to see how relatively small the country is, considering that Jamaican culture is known throughout the world. Jamaica has roughly the same number of people living in it today as Houston.

If you research Jamaican culture, you’re bound to come across the Rastafari movement. Descended from African slaves converted to Christianity, Rastas believe in a balanced lifestyle. They wear long hair in natural dreadlocks, dress in red, green, gold, and black (which symbolize the life force of blood, herbs, royalty, and African-ness), and they eat a vegetarian diet.

Reggae music actually grew out of the Rastafari movement. The lyrics (sometimes political, sometimes religious) are an important means of promoting the Rastafari faith. Reggae sounds a lot like ska and rocksteady from the 1960’s, with a twist of Caribbean calypso. Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley made reggae popular throughout the world. His album Legend is the best-selling reggae album of all time.

When it comes to Jamaican food, many people have heard of Jamaican jerk. It’s usually chicken or pork, seasoned with allspice, Scotch bonnet peppers, and other spices in a dry-rub or wet marinade. The meat is then smoked slowly in a pit or charcoal grill. (If you cook it long enough, it’ll dry out and become what we know of as “jerky”.) For our World Geography Wednesday in Jamaica, we learned to make jerk chicken in the oven.

Drinks and Nibbles

We started the meal with ting, a popular Jamaican drink made with lemon-lime soda and fruit juice, usually grapefruit. It’s topped with a sprinkle of ground nutmeg and tastes very refreshing.

Because of its weather and climate, one of the leading industries in Jamaica is sugarcane farms and its byproduct, rum. In the spirit of authenticity (wink), my husband and I added rum to our ting.

I also made a banana brunch soup, which was cool, creamy, and basically a smoothie. We liked it, but my kids thought it was weird to eat it like soup.

The appetizer was fried plantains, a fruit commonly found in Jamaican cooking. We dipped it in a homemade pineapple salsa, made by blitzing pineapple and pico de gallo ingredients in a food processor. Our pico was mild for the kids, but you can make yours as spicy as you like.

Main Course

The main attraction was Jamaican jerk chicken. Making the marinade from scratch took the most amount of effort. Cooking the jerk chicken was comparatively easy, just a slow roast in the oven over several hours.

The side dish was a Jamaican curry, sweet potato salad. Honestly – when my family tasted it, their eyes grew wide with how surprisingly delicious it was. We’ve had regular potato salad a hundred times and don’t think it’s anything special. This dish, they made me promise to make it again. I’ve included the recipe below in case you’re interested.

I also made slow-cooked black beans with salt pork over rice, a dish that’s very common in the Caribbean.

Dessert

For dessert, I made a pineapple-rum upside-down cake. I cheated and used boxed cake mix because I’ve never been disappointed with one. The rum I used was not – strictly speaking – made in Jamaica, but it did not disappoint.

As promised, here’s the recipe for sweet potato salad with curry. Enjoy!

SWEET POTATO SALAD WITH CURRY Recipe

TOOLS:

potato peeler

knife and cutting board

medium pot

colander

small and large mixing bowls

rubber spatula or large spoon

PROCESS:

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Peel the russet potatoes and dice them into ½ inch cubes. Boil the russet potatoes just until tender, about 8-10 minutes. (Don’t overcook them, or they’ll be mushy.) Drain them and rinse them with cold water to stop the cooking process. Put them in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Refill the pot with water and bring it to a boil. Peel the sweet potatoes and dice them into ½ inch cubes. Cook the sweet potatoes just until tender, about 5-6 minutes. (Don’t overcook them, or they’ll be mushy.) Drain them and rinse them with cold water, also. Add them to the large mixing bowl with the russet potatoes.

Meanwhile, mix all the other ingredients together in a small bowl to make the dressing. When the potatoes are ready, add the dressing and gently mix everything together. Taste it and add more salt if necessary.

I hope you enjoyed this post on teaching kids about Jamaica! Check back here for more fun ideas on teaching geography to kids. Or check out my YouTube channel, World Geography Wednesday, for delicious, kid-friendly international recipes. Hope to see you next week!