This is “Small Bites,” a South Florida Sun Sentinel feature with tiny tidbits on the food and beverage scene — because we know that sometimes you just don’t have room for a long article. You want a little news brief instead, an amuse bouche of information, if you will. Enjoy!
WHAT:
Jerk cuisine — indeed most Caribbean flavors — will be featured at the 21st Annual Grace Jamaican Jerk Festival in Miramar.
In addition to vendors from the region, and from as far away as Atlanta and New York, serving all kinds of jerk and island fare, the culinary festival on Nov. 12 will offer (this year moved to the center of the layout) cooking demonstrations by Jamaican chefs Travis Reece and Darian Bryan as well as Bahamian chef Jamal Small.
There will also be a Celebrity Quick-Fire Challenge cook-off between WTVJ’s Chernéy Amhara (the returning champion) and WPLG’s Alexis Frazier, plus patty- and hot wings-eating contests, cultural presentations and entertainment on what is called the Western Union stages.
“It’s pretty much a Caribbean food festival with music and other entertainment, so we want to showcase that at a very high level,” says C. “Eddy” Edwards, cofounder and CEO of Jamaican Jerk Festival USA. “And at the same time, (we want to) invite the wider community to come share this experience because … what’s interesting is we have differences but we share so much in common. And once we realize how much we have in common, then the prejudices and all that negative hate goes away.”
Other Caribbean favorites, in addition to jerk dishes, will include oxtail, curried goat and “the Jamaican Patty, which is pretty much a staple here,” Edwards says. “Now in South Florida … there’s a similar Hispanic beef patty, empanadas. The beef patty and empanada are like cousins.
“This really, in essence, is a food festival. We’re showcasing the food of the Caribbean,” he adds. “Jerk is something unique to Jamaica and we are so proud of it, to be able to share it in its various forms, even something like the jerk ice cream.”
In its first year, the festival had seven food vendors working hard to serve about 4,000 guests, he says. Through the years, the event has grown and they now expect 20 to 25 vendors with about 10,000 tickets sold. A sponsorship from Grace Foods has allowed spin-offs in New York and Washington, D.C. Publix, another sponsor, will host promotion events throughout SoFlo leading up to the festival. (For details on these events, go to jerkfestival.com/publix-promotions.)
The idea is to enjoy not only the food, but also “the music and the culture of Jamaica and the wider Caribbean,” Edwards says.
“You know, I want this to be a festival in South Florida that features the Caribbean and not a Caribbean festival. I want this to be one of the big South Florida festivals.”
WHEN:
Hours are 1 to 10 p.m. Sunday, Nov.12.
WHERE:
Head to Miramar Regional Park, 16801 Miramar Parkway.
COST:
Advance tickets cost $40 for general admission and $175 for VIP (close-to-the-stage view, inclusive food/drink menu and parking).
At the gate, general admission tickets will cost $50. There will be no VIP tickets sold at the gate.
INFORMATION:
Visit jerkfestival.com or call 754-213-5105.
EXTRA TIDBIT:
Entertainment will include “the royal family of reggae” Morgan Heritage, dancehall artist Ding Dong and Bermudian singer Collie Buddz. Also on the bill will be comedian Chris “Johnny” Daley, the Dancin’ Dynamites, as well as DJ Richie D, DJ Jazzy T and DJ Radcliffe. The emcees will be Hot 105-FM’s Tanto Irie and media personality Jody Ann Gray.
EXTRA, EXTRA TIDBIT:
Edwards recalls how the idea for the festival came up 20 years ago.
“It was a crazy idea that came out of looking to see how we could do something different,” he says. “We were doing the Miami Reggae Festival at the time, and competition and the whole market of event concerts at that time, there was just a lot. … And just being creative and thinking about it I said, ‘You know, we’ve got rum, we’ve got reggae and this secret food that nobody’s really focusing on called jerk. And I said, ‘Yeah, we could call it ‘The Big Jerk Off.’ That was my initial thought. I took that idea, I discussed it with my wife, Bridget, and she said, ‘Over my dead body.’ “
