Happy New Year, Jamaica Observer Food Readers! I wanted to start 2010 writing about something positive and inspirational as we face this new chapter in our lives. This year is going to be a challenge, but in adversity there is always hope. Today I felt compelled to write about a humbling and beautiful experience I recently had on the DaVinci Jamaica Vacations Culinary Experience, the only one-of-its-kind food tour of Jamaica.

I was amongst a group of international food journalists touring the island with DaVinci, and we met the most wonderful and fascinating people, from farmers to restaurateurs, hoteliers to fishermen, we truly live in one of the most beautiful islands on the planet. One of the most inspirational people we met was Brenda Isaac from Atlanta, a philanthropist with deeply spiritual roots and the owner of the fabulous colonial era villa, Highland House. Brenda has a love affair with our island which is her second home.

Highland House is situated in the hills of Reading above Montego Bay. It has a storied past: one of the original owners was Gladys Cooper, a famous English actress of the 1940s and the second owner was Oscar Hammerstein II who wrote the lyrics for The Sound of Music. What makes this villa magical is that it resides on 17 acres of lush fertile land with an atmosphere that is truly Zen, yet what makes it unique is that it is luxury with a cause.

Brenda was intimately knowledgeable about Jamaica due to her past career as a corporate executive who dealt with travel, planning events and global vacation incentives. On her trips to rural Jamaica, she discovered that many children ate meals that lacked healthy items such as fruit and vegetables. When she purchased Highland House she vowed that she would carve out a piece of her land specifically to give back to the community through a school-feeding programme with an emphasis on healthy food. When she was speaking to us, you couldn’t help but feel touched and inspired by this woman with a heart of gold.

Brenda developed a fruit and vegetable farm which is lovingly looked after by her head farmer Mark. Some of the crops grown are sweet potatoes, cabbages, broccoli, pak choy, cauliflower, Scotch bonnet pepper, country pepper, bird pepper, sweet pepper, pimento, sorrel, papaya, banana, callaloo, lettuce, carrot, turnip, tomato, watermelon, peanut, string beans, cassava, Irish potatoes, cantaloupe, peanuts and pumpkin to name a few. After a hearty breakfast, Brenda and Mark took my fellow food writers and me on a tour of the farm where we spent the morning picking crops to take up to Anchovy Primary. We filled up numerous baskets with fresh vegetables. It was super fun to pull carrots out of the earth, pick lettuces and tomatoes and dig out cauliflower from the earth. Many guests who stay here actively participate on the farm and also visit the school children.

The produce grown on this land features on the villa’s daily menu for their up-market guests, as well as helping to feed over 200 children at the Anchovy Primary School as a project of the One Love Learning Foundation (OLLF), Brenda’s charitable organisation. Staying at this villa is therefore a charitable cause because by residing here during your vacation, you are also directly contributing to the proper nourishment of children from low- income households.

The OLLF currently has 3 projects, here in Jamaica, in the Sudan, and in Atlanta, Georgia. The focus is on teaching children to be self-sufficient by growing their own vegetables, respecting the land and eating healthily. On our island, the children at the Anchovy Primary School also have their own supplemental garden on the school grounds, where they grow many cash crops funded by the OLLF as a part of their curriculum. The children in Jamaica also exchange ideas with their counterparts in the Sudan and Atlanta. We were taken on a tour of the garden at the school and it was wonderful to hear these incredibly bright children describe the seasons in which to plant certain crops, the health benefits of the produce and how they liked to cook them when they took them home to their parents.

I know that there are others in Jamaica like Brenda who actively give back to their local communities, and it is my hope that other landowners will be inspired by this story today and do likewise if they are able. Our children are our future and healthy bodies facilitate healthy minds. Our land is blessed with an abundance of fruits and vegetables. Let us get back into farming and feed ourselves. No one in this country should go hungry and every one has a right to good nutrition. Food for thought: Wouldn’t it be lovely to see more urban gardens planted in our inner cities? Many of the children there only know concrete and zinc and we live on one of the greenest places on earth. Let’s get something started today!

Juicy’s Home-made Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce

I used the scotch bonnet peppers I picked at the Highland House farm to make my own fiery pepper sauce. Caution: Please wear gloves when handling these fiery gems. This sauce is hot, hot, hot!!

Ingredients:

4 cups Scotch bonnet peppers, assorted colours, stalks removed and washed

6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

2 papayas, peeled, deseeded and roughly chopped

_ cup white cane vinegar

_ cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp salt

2 tbsps sugar

Method:

Place all the ingredients in a blender/food processor and puree

Pour into sterilised jars

Top with a little oil to preserve.

Pickled Cucumber Salad

We picked a glut of cucumbers, so I made this refreshing salad with our farm- fresh goodies.

Ingredients:

2 large cucumbers, peeled and sliced

_ escallion, finely chopped

2 fat sprigs of dill, roughly chopped

1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Tbsps olive oil

Cracked black pepper to taste

Method:

Add sliced cucumbers to a colander, sprinkle with salt and leave for 30 minutes.

Squeeze out excess fluid and pat dry.

Add cucumbers to a bowl with escallion and dill.

Pour over apple cider vinegar and olive oil.

Season with cracked black pepper.

A warm thanks to my sponsors, Megamart Waterloo

Special recognition to DaVinci Jamaica Vacations and the Highland House for taking me on the food tour, providing me with transport, accommodation and lots of farm fresh vegetables! I also want to express appreciation to the lovely staff and children at the Anchovy Primary School in St. James.

Contact me at info@juicychef.com

Happy New Year and Bon Appetit!