Thursday Food picks up international celebrity chef Marco Pierre White. We’ve not yet had breakfast and truth be told, we’re famished. A call comes from culinary doyenne Norma Shirley and soon we are all at table enjoying plates of ackee and saltfish, callaloo and fried dumplings. There is too, fresh coconut water straight from the fruit. Coconuts on the table, his plate practically clean, Marco leans back with a Marlboro and takes in the scene.

Tales of his fiery temper are well known but at this moment there’s no trace. Clad in a blue T-shirt with Levi’s jeans, and black and white checkered Vans, he’s laid back and for the moment, content. The conversation flows easily, with the subject of ‘food’ as the main course.

Anna Chin, proprietor of Jojo’s joins us followed by Rob Rae; then in strolls ‘jerk connoisseur’ Helen Willinsky and Anna’s husband Paul. Soon there’s a full table, with ATL Autohaus exec Robin Sutherland and Sandals Group Corporate Communications director Rachel McLarty.

To complete breakfast, pineapple wedges are brought out – the ‘Sugarloaf’ variety, along with one from Costa Rica, Norma dubbing it ‘broad backside’.

There are lots of laughs, and shortly after, Marco wanders off, apparently to take a phone call. The day is hot, so it’s surprising that he decides to sit in a spot right in the sun, requesting a cold Red Stripe to quench his thirst.

The celebrity chef has a busy schedule — cooking class in the afternoon, early morning television interview, food seminar and the Awards, not to mention the numerous business deals you see him negotiating on the phone – always on the move, and now with his stomach full, it’s time to go shopping.

Call 936-9576 for tickets to the Jamaica Observer Food Awards this evening