World Market for J'can Food

[Blackstar*]

Carry w ackee go a......Barcelona?
NOVIA McDONALD-WHYTE, Contributing editor
Thursday, August 24, 2006


<font color="grey">On the menu at El Bulli... ackees and cucumber hearts in veal and
basil broth. El Bulli, set on the isolated beach of Spain's Catalan
coast near the town of Rosas, has become a pilgrimage site for
foodies brave enough to make the dizzying drive down for the
experience.</font>

The dining experience comprises 25-30 small courses, some no more than a bite-size morsel or slurp, presented on a silver spoon or on a stick or in a tiny, fluted glass. Guests are guided by the wait staff as to how to proceed, invariably in one go, in separate bites or in a certain order. One such course offered at El Bulli, heralded as the 2006 Best Restaurant, both in the world as well as Europe, created by world-renowned chef Ferran Adria, is ackees (named on the menu as a Jamaican fruit) and cucumber hearts in veal and basil broth.

Thursday Food asked restaurant manager Luis Garcia a few questions:

Why ackee? Who pitched the idea? In other words, of all the fruits in the world, why ackee (which makes up the national dish of Jamaica)?
Luis Garcia: Because we were interested in this product since we found it in an exotic products shop in Barcelona.

We have made a dish with ackees and we have it on the menu because we like very much its delicate texture and fine flavour. <font color="blue">Now we are wondering if we can taste fresh ackees, because we can only find tinned ackees. Maybe you can help us to find fresh ackees in Spain. If you have any ideas let us know, please.</font>

Thursday Food: When was this dish added?
Luis Garcia: We created the dish in April 2006 and introduced it to our customers at the end of that same month.

Thursday Food: What has the response been like to the ackee dish?
Luis Garcia: We find different reactions. Of course, there are people that appreciate it more
than others, but at the end it's very subjective.

Thursday Food is certain that our government will immediately find ways of allowing not only the world's best restaurant but other European restaurants to enjoy ackees straight from the pod. The possibilities seem endless. By the way, where's our indigenous ackee restaurant? Hey, we shouldn't be surprised. Look how long it took us to conceive an all-reggae station in Jamaica, and just look at the results. Maybe the idea will dawn on someone soon enough.

[Blackstar*]

Re: World Market for J'can Food

Fisherfolk bemoan untapped squid market
published: Friday | September 1, 2006

Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Government's apparent unwillingness to invest in what is considered a potential multimillion-dollar Diamond Back Squid industry is causing much frustration among fisherfolk in Montego Bay, St. James, who believe the untapped industry could solve their economic woes.

"We are extremely frustrated because we could be generating millions of dollars from this industry," said Troy Jump, the president of the Whitehouse Fisher Folk Cooperation Limited (WFFCL). "The Japanese are ready to partner us but the Government is not showing any interest."

Diamond Squid
The Diamond Squid, which fisherfolk have been seeing in abundance off Jamaica's north coast for the past 20 years, belong to a diverse group of marine molluscs and are popular in cuisine in Japan and the United States. It is currently a US$100 million industry in Japan, which experts say has far less squids than Jamaica.

"We caught a squid in March that weighed 33 pounds," said Mr. Jump, who noted that squids are sold at approximately US$20 per pound in countries where they are consumed. "Japanese investors have come here and are quite excited at the quantity and quality of squids seen here."

While it appears that Government is unwilling to inject the J$10 million required to procure cold storage facilities, freezers and a specially equipped boat to start the industry, at least one unnamed Canadian investor is said to be expressing an interest in the project and has been in dialogue with local fishing interest.

Wonderful economic opportunity
Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) President, Horace Peterkin, who has close ties with the WFFCL and first raised the matter of the untapped squid industry at a Gleaner Editors' Forum in Montego Bay earlier this year, remains convinced that it is a wonderful economic opportunity that is not being exploited.

"The financial possibilities to Jamaica are limitless as the total squid casting (cocoons that burst open to release new squid eggs) found in Japan is only about 10 per cent of what our local fishermen have been spotting off the island's north coast," Mr. Peterkin told The Gleaner. "If properly developed, this industry could solve all the problems now facing the local fishing industry."

Takahiko Yasuda, of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, who has made many trips along the north coast with representatives of the WFFCL, has stated that, based on the vast number of squid casting he has seen, he believes Jamaica could outdo Japan in terms of earning from the Diamond Squid.

[mountaingal]

Re: World Market for J'can Food

lawd, i'm going to sound like a cumooojin, but every time i hear about untapped markets for jamaican products, i say "run for the hills!" so many attempts to cash in have led to environmental problems. right now they are chopping down literally thousands of jamaican hardwood trees in the cockpit country in Trelawny to use as yamsticks, to grow yellow yam and feed the growing overseas market. efforts to get farmers to use bamboo sticks or even to reuse yamsticks have come to nought.

the tapping of the market for jamaican coffee has resulted in the balding and soil erosion in many parts of the blue mountain.

would that the folks who see to filling "untapped markets" also try their best to ensure environmentally responsible strategies around the production of the goods as well.

[Morpheous]

Re: World Market for J'can Food

[ QUOTE ]
right now they are chopping down literally thousands of jamaican hardwood trees in the cockpit country in Trelawny to use as yamsticks, to grow yellow yam and feed the growing overseas market. efforts to get farmers to use bamboo sticks or even to reuse yamsticks have come to nought.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is why I am so strongly for a REGULATORY BODY in Jamaica. With that body in place dem cuddan a just a chap dung trees just suh, fi use as piece a yamstick. That is bad practice, irresposnsible and environmentally disasterous!!

Regulation of the agricultural sector would protect the environment, have set targets, nationalise the trees and prevent damage to the environment. More resposnible ways would have to be found that enable reuse of materials witjout hampering opportunities for progress.

Good thread anyway Blackstar as usual your threads are stimulating and refreshing. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[Blackstar*]

Re: World Market for J'can Food

[ QUOTE ]
lawd, i'm going to sound like a cumooojin, but every time i hear about untapped markets for jamaican products, i say "run for the hills!" so many attempts to cash in have led to environmental problems. right now they are chopping down literally thousands of jamaican hardwood trees in the cockpit country in Trelawny to use as yamsticks, to grow yellow yam and feed the growing overseas market. efforts to get farmers to use bamboo sticks or even to reuse yamsticks have come to nought.

the tapping of the market for jamaican coffee has resulted in the balding and soil erosion in many parts of the blue mountain.

would that the folks who see to filling "untapped markets" also try their best to ensure environmentally responsible strategies around the production of the goods as well.

[/ QUOTE ]
No you don't sound like a cumoojin, mountaingal. I agree wholeheartedly with your observations.

My uncle told me that bamboo is cheaper but slippery which is why everyone prefers wood. All the stick maker has to do is notch the bamboo every few centimeters. Good grief. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]

I didn't know farmers weren't re-using the sticks which are apparently quite expensive too. Then they'll be the same ones crying poverty.

I also noted you mentioned people are chopping down trees to build their homes. This of course makes the place feel hotter and in case of heavy rain, hurricane, etc. increased risk of flooding.

We are our own worst enemy in so many ways. It makes me want to scream sometimes. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70394-bawlout.gif[/img]

Having said all of that, we do have a lot of food just dropping off the trees and spoiling because there's too much to eat in a season. Mangos are a good example of this.

[Blackstar*]

Re: World Market for J'can Food

[ QUOTE ]
Good thread anyway Blackstar as usual your threads are stimulating and refreshing. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/70409-waytogo.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks, Morpheous, and you keep those comments and proposals coming. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]