Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook

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Motherland is a cookbook that charts the history of the people, influences and ingredients that uniquely united to create the wonderful patchwork cuisine that is Jamaican food today. Author of the Barbecue Bible and Project Smoke, Steven Raichlen, traces the history of smoking from its Palaeolithic origins to present day, and argues that cooking with fire was one of the greatest technological advances in the history of humankind. A cookbook charting 500 years of influence on the vibrant cuisine of Jamaica, written by acclaimed food writer Melissa Thompson

Motherland Interlink Publishing | Motherland

Patchwork seems the perfect description for a cuisine that has taken many different influences – from the island's earliest known settlers, who farmed cassava, which remains one of Jamaica's staple crops, to the Spanish colonialists, who introduced sugar cane to the Caribbean – and stitched them together to create something greater than the sum of its parts.Leyla discovers that while some processes born out of necessity may be less popular today, it’s clear the practice of smoking is showing no signs of dissipating. It is often said that food is a direct way of understanding and connecting with other places, peoples and cultures, and this can indeed be true, but you do need to be willing to learn more than recipes for that. And Melissa Thompson’s Motherland is a truly exceptional book, telling the story of Jamaica through its food, which cannot be separated from its history. About this Thompson is direct and — rightly — unsparing, and yet she manages to bring such joy at the same time: this is a true celebration of Jamaican food and Jamaica, not an airbrushed, whitewashed version. Meanwhile make the pastry. Using your hands, rub the butter and flour together until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar and egg yolk and then add the measured water a little bit at a time, until the dough comes together. Don’t knead any more, just wrap in cling film or greaseproof paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

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The third season of Motherland starts as it means to go on: with an “absolute nitshow”. As an official arrives to brief parents at the state primary school, every unravelling mother in the land will wish she didn’t recognise herself. The nit expert urges parents to comply with the guidelines: “Combing … shampooing … combing again,” which is only marginally less laughable than the government’s “stay alert” slogan it is satirising. But it is not too soon for the pandemic to get the Motherland treatment – if it came in a bottle, it would look, smell and perform precisely like nit shampoo. But I return to the Something Sweet chapter to choose a recipe to share with you today. I just couldn’t resist: it’s the Guinness Punch Pie, inspired by “one of the most compelling drinks you can have” — and yes, of course this wonderful book also contains a recipe for it, too! Motherland does not shy away from the brutality of the colonial periods, but takes us on a journey through more than 500 years of history to give context to the beloved island and its cuisine. PDF / EPUB File Name: Motherland_A_Jamaican_Cookbook_-_Melissa_Thompson.pdf, Motherland_A_Jamaican_Cookbook_-_Melissa_Thompson.epub

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Although Motherland remains Sharon Horgan’s angry baby, this is the first series in which she is credited as a producer and not a writer. Happily, the rest of the season two team – Holly Walsh, Helen Serafinowicz and Barunka O’Shaughnessy – have done a solid job of retaining Horgan’s signature blend of comedy: lacerating, farcical, painfully British (although, of course, Horgan is Irish). It is as if you can sense the attempt with each killer line – the tragedy of your kids going off you when you fart in front of them, say – to induce the giant, dirty Horgan laugh we know so well from Catastrophe. Leyla Kazim visits Cue Point to hear from Mursal Saiq and Joshua Moroney about their unique ‘British Afghan Fusion BBQ’ that brings an inclusive style of smoking to a wider audience while drawing on diverse culinary heritages. Melissa Thompson, writer, cook and author of Motherland, discusses the central role smoke plays in Jamaican cuisine, and why food and history in the Caribbean are so intertwined.

Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook: Melissa Thompson: Bloomsbury Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook: Melissa Thompson: Bloomsbury

And while many would perhaps prefer to think of this ‘fusion' cuisine apolitically, neither the history nor cuisine of Jamaica can be discussed without considering the effects of slavery. As Thompson explains, the food of Jamaica "is a beautiful product of this violent chapter in world history". Motherland is a recipe book, but more than that it is a history of the people, influences and ingredients that uniquely united to create the wonderful patchwork cuisine that is Jamaican food today," writes Melissa Thompson in the introduction to her debut cookbook. So she wrote this book, what she calls ‘a cookbook with historical narrative,’ weaving Jamaican recipes with essays about the impact of slavery, colonization, and immigration on Jamaica’s cuisine. It’s worth mentioning that this beautiful book includes a map so you can connect flavor with place. Sometimes, the more such top-notch sitcoms go on, the more the characters better themselves. To which Motherland, to borrow the words Julia uses when she is wished a happy Mother’s Day, says: “Oh, shove it up your hole.” The mums (plus Kevin) of Motherland remain a bunch of infantile, and infantilised, horrors. The only character who vaguely redeems herself this season is Amanda (Lucy Punch), when she apologies to Anne for treating her like a doormat (and not even one she would sell at hyggetygge.org). Mind you, immediately afterwards, she launches into an excruciating dance at a PTA fundraiser that “received 400 likes on TikTok”. I will never be able to strip it from my eyeballs.Through both the recipes and informative essays, Melissa Thompson relates the history of Jamaica and the wider Caribbean We hear from producers bringing diverse barbecue and smoking techniques to new audiences, as well as those keeping traditional processes alive. Helen Graves, editor of Pit Magazine and author of Live Fire, explains why she has made it her mission to champion the broad range of diversity in open fire cooking, and the reasons she tends not to follow the trend of US-style barbecue.