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We used to grow much of what we ate
It may be difficult for the hustling urbanite of today's Jamaica to believe, but up until a half-century or so ago, the country was able to feed itself largely with what it produced. About the only staples imported were - get this - half of the national dish: the salted cod usually paired with the fruit of the blighia sapida tree and the rice which combines with red beans in the other celebrated national dish. There were other items many people considered essential, such as tea, canned sardines and salmon, bully beef and chocolate-based drinks like Milo and Ovaltine which came from elsewhere, but they could just as easily drink various kinds of herbal teas and the rich chocolate drink made from the fruit of the cacao tree.
Complete Story ...
It may be difficult for the hustling urbanite of today's Jamaica to believe, but up until a half-century or so ago, the country was able to feed itself largely with what it produced. About the only staples imported were - get this - half of the national dish: the salted cod usually paired with the fruit of the blighia sapida tree and the rice which combines with red beans in the other celebrated national dish. There were other items many people considered essential, such as tea, canned sardines and salmon, bully beef and chocolate-based drinks like Milo and Ovaltine which came from elsewhere, but they could just as easily drink various kinds of herbal teas and the rich chocolate drink made from the fruit of the cacao tree.
Complete Story ...