KINGSTON, Jamaica—As attendees of the 27th Jamaica Observer Food Awards begin to arrive, greeting them first thing is a figurative breadbasket of Jamaican produce representing the night’s theme of resilience, a display they say is both timely and touching.

“I’m really happy that they are focusing on sustainability and resilience, seeing what happened last year with the hurricane and knowing that we do have to feed ourselves and make sure that we are a country that can sustain ourselves as well,” said first-time attendee Kari Davis.

The night is billed as a celebration of 27 years of resilience off the back of Hurricane Melissa, which devastated southwestern parishes, including rural food-producing areas, last October.

Davis told Observer Online what Jamaican meal encapsulated ‘resilience’ for her.

“I think that’s our national dish, ackee and saltfish!” she said.

For Davis’s companion Patricia Reid-Waugh, her resilience meal is a steaming plate of oxtail, and the theme is particularly poignant.

“Certainly [that theme] is something that we have to concentrate on. If we don’t, then we do not at our own peril. Jamaica has been through a lot, and I think all of us realise that we have to take steps to make sure we are prepared.”

Managing Director of the Jamaica Observer Dominic Beaubrun emphasised that resilience is not just “toughness”.

“Resilience specifically deals with the ability of systems to be able to reorient and adapt to circumstances that are external to them and be able to counter the situation that might be a negative but find a way to be able to turn that into something that is more constructive,” he stressed.

The Jamaica Observer Table Talk Food Awards celebrates culinary excellence in the country this year with a focus on sustainability and resilience. Featured tonight will be several awards across different categories, including the community resilience award to be presented to Peter Scudamore (The Pelican Grill), the resilience award to be presented to Robyn Fox at Cafe ETIS, as well as the humanitarian award going to chef Jose Andres of World Central Kitchen.

(Video: Dana Malcolm)