Most summers catch Leonie McDonald manning her Strictly Vegan Jamaican Cuisine booth at major reggae festivals in California and Nevada. In the winters, she likes to be served, at Sandals Ocho Rios.

Since December, 2016, McDonald and her husband Lloyd (Bread of roots-reggae group, The Wailing Souls) have been regular visitors to that resort.

A committed vegan for 29 years, the Westmoreland-born nutritionist said they settled on Sandals Ocho Rios after years of being unable to find suitable locations for their tastes.

“The main thing that keeps me going back is the food, the choices of vegan food and the fact that they prepare locally-grown food,” she told Observer Online. “I enjoy that, because that’s what I usually enjoy when I go to Jamaica to visit family and friends.”

But for 2020 when COVID-19 forced a global shutdown, the McDonalds have visited Sandals Ocho Rios annually. Leonie has developed a friendship with senior staff there including executive chef Rodroy Thomas, managers Gary Holgate, Delores Williams and Maylene Pringle.

She credits that bond for making access to her plant-based, non-meat lifestyle easier.

“It can be difficult getting proper vegan food because most people are into the meat, jerk chicken and whatever. So, wherever I go, I like to know what they have as vegan, because I have been to places where the food is not good,” said McDonald.

She pointed to the hotel’s roasted breadfruit, fresh coconuts, papaya, calaloo and cabbage dishes, among her favourites from the Sandals Ocho Rios menu.

Based in southern California, Leonie McDonald has lived in the United States for 60 years. She became a certified nutritionist 14 years ago, 15 years after deciding to stop eating “anything with a pulse.”

Strictly Vegan Jamaican Cuisine has served artistes and fans at shows such as the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, Monterey Jazz Festival and Reggae In The Desert.

The McDonalds plan to return to Sandals Ocho Rios this winter to celebrate her 72nd birthday.