If you’re familiar with Montego Bay, chances are you may have come across a group of women selling crab and shrimp at the corner of Church and St James streets, as they have been a feature of that spot for quite some time.

The Thursday Food team pulled in last Saturday evening to find out about their offerings. We met up with Dorion Malcolm, crab and shrimp seller at the spot for the last 17 years.

“I never used to sell shrimp, at first. I started selling crab and a bigger lady carry me come and that’s how I started selling here. I’m originally from Whitehouse in Westmoreland and I used to sell fry fish and bammy at Border when I was 15 years old. I worked in stores and bars but then I started selling crab. It was rough at first as I didn’t have that many customers but the experience of dealing with customers [made it easier]. Plus I’m an easy-going, jovial person with a nice personality. That helped me accumulate my customer over the years,” Malcolm explained.

Malcolm explained her cooking process for the shrimp as it is the mainstay and available all year round.

“I sell boil crab, curry crab and parched shrimp. The crab is only available during the season, but the shrimp I get to do right through the year. Some of the women only come out when it’s the crab season but I travel from Westmoreland every day except Sundays to sell right here. Only stopped when I got pregnant. We do the shrimp different from how the women before us did it, though. They used to only add pepper and salt but we parch it in the pot, we do the pepper, salt but we add natural seasonings and allow the shrimp to boil in its own juices as we add no water to the pot. That gives it the colour that the customers love,” Malcolm explained.

— Photo & text by Aceion Cunningham