HOW TO LOVE A JAMAICAN

Jamaica is my HAPPY PLACE. My love for this island is deep, and grows every year that my family comes here to savor the warm sun, steeped in the vibrant colors, sweet smiles and bold flavors of this special place.

Experiencing this incredible collection of stories last week, while on my seventh holiday in Jamaica, was a multi sensory experience, and something like 3D poetry. Alexia Arthurs’s stories are so nuanced and beautifully imagined, and to read them while looking out at the Caribbean Sea, eating festivals, mango and plantains for breakfast, was truly magic. I highly recommend this book wherever you may read it, but especially if you plan to visit Jamaica soon, or if Jamaica has already woven its way into the fabric of your heart.

“Mi nuh want anyone but you or some other Jamaican cook Jamaican food fi me,” says one character. “Waste of time to put up wid di disappointment.” Nobody can cook authentic Jamaican food like a Jamaican. As such, I have a GUEST CHEF for this post: a talented, kind, soft spoken chef named Devin at The Tryall Club who was so lovely to make this delicious jerk chicken. PLEASE VISIT MY INSTAGRAM STORIES today for some of my favorite quotes from this beautiful book and some corresponding photos I’ve taken during my trips to this magical island.