Traveling Jamaica With Knife, Fork & Spoon: A Righteous Guide to Jamaican Cookery [Paperback]

Robb Walsh (Author), Jay McCarthy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1994

This collection of 140 recipes were collected from an adventurous trip across Jamaica. Interviews and color photos of magic tonic-makers, persuasive fishmongers, and Rastafarian chefs provide a fascinating portrait of the island's multi-cultural culinary scene.

Editorial Reviews

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. Jessica Harris's Sky Juice and Flying Fish (LJ 12/90) presents traditional cooking from all over the Caribbean, but the focus here on Jamaica makes this unusual. For most collections.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 227 pages
• Publisher: Crossing Pr (December 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089594698X
• ISBN-13: 978-0895946980
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,301,437 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #47 in Books > Travel > Caribbean > Jamaica

More About the Author

Food writer Robb Walsh is the T.R. Fehrenbach of Texas culinary history. While Fehrenbach has chronicled Texas history, Walsh's books--The Tex-Mex Cookbook, Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook and The Texas Cowboy Cookbook--honor the state's food traditions with recipes and revisionist accounts of how our Lone Star staples came to be. Many of the articles he pens for the Houston Press--where he's been head restaurant reviewer for almost 10 years-- have been nominated for James Beard awards.

-Jennifer Lizt, Texas Magazine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good recipe book, February 25, 2005

By 

Jamaican Mom (SF Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Traveling Jamaica With Knife, Fork & Spoon: A Righteous Guide to Jamaican Cookery (Paperback)

Being a Jamaican I was a bit sceptical about this book being written by foreigners (AKA non-Jamaicans), but you know this is a good overall recipe book. They did not try to tweak recipes or 'improve' upon them, but rather collected recipes from authentic Jamaican cooks. The pictures are very nice also. They have good recipes for patties, gizzadas, rice and peas and many more. I got this in high school knowing that I would one day have to move out of my parents house and cook on my own...now I'm married with 3 kids and still love this book...great for beginners or experienced cooks!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Fine Book, November 13, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Traveling Jamaica With Knife, Fork & Spoon: A Righteous Guide to Jamaican Cookery (Paperback)

Very readable, excellent recipes, great information, and lots of fun.

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Cookbook, August 31, 2006

By 

Deborah Philp "Deborah" (Maryland, US) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Traveling Jamaica With Knife, Fork & Spoon: A Righteous Guide to Jamaican Cookery (Paperback)

This book is great! Growing up in a West Indian hous hold in the US, I was familiar with the flavors of the food, but not with cooking the food. This book was instrumental in honing my carribean cooking skills and is an excellent reference book.