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Delicious Deliberations: The Meat Dilemma

Published:Thursday | October 8, 2020 | 12:07 AMKrysta Anderson/Gleaner Writer
Oxtail
Oxtail
Jheanelle Malcolm
Jheanelle Malcolm
Saneka Gooden
Saneka Gooden
Rohan Cruise
Rohan Cruise
Brian McCalla
Brian McCalla
Oxtail
Oxtail
Stew Peas
Stew Peas
Jerked Chicken
Jerked Chicken
Ackee and Saltfish
Ackee and Saltfish
Curried Goat
Curried Goat
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Making the right choice as to what is better or what is considered the best is never easy. When the decision stems from satisfying your appetite, how can you really pick from the mouth-watering variety? Welcome to Delicious Deliberations, where we serve up incredibly difficult dished options for foodies to make.

This week, we tackled the scrumptiously warm and tasty meaty variety, which are popularly prepared at home or in local cookshops and restaurants. So you already know this won’t be easy. Notwithstanding the pressure, we decided to raise the stakes. Instead of asking locals the sizzling question, we ventured out to Jamaicans living within the diaspora.

Since they have little to no access to these specific dishes, the outcome, as hard as it might be, would be clear and calculated, based on discerning palates. We asked: Between curried goat, jerk chicken, ackee and salt fish, stew peas and oxtail, which one has to go, and why? Here are the responses:

Why would I get rid of any of these? I don’t know, maybe the jerk chicken. I feel like there are other variations of chicken I can still do but everything else has to be eaten the way it’s made. Very strategic, I know. Jheanelle Malcolm, 32, lives in Florida, USA.

That’s easy. Stew peas would definitely have to go for me because I’m not a fan of red peas. Andre Murray, 31, resides in London, England.

I can do without curry goat, because I can cook curry chicken or choose to brown stew the mutton. I haven’t had curry goat since last year, but the others, like ackee, I love them. Saneka Gooden, 31, lives in Miami, USA.

Stew peas has to go because it can’t stand alone, it needs the rice to fully appreciate the taste. Since I’m on the healthier side of life, that’s a no for me. Rohan Cruise, 34, living in London, England.

None! But if I really have to choose, I guess I can toss oxtail because it is expensive. It also doesn’t have much meat on it and I’m always hungry after I eat it. Everything else is a bellyful. Rochelle Hayles, 30, lives in North Carolina, USA.

For sure, ackee and salt fish would be the one to go, because I don’t eat ackee. I think it’s nasty. Brian McCalla, 34, lives in Colombia.

This is wicked! Now I’m craving all of these dishes. I could probably part with stew peas because I don’t like pig’s tail. The rest I absolutely love! Zanya Henry, 33, lives in London. England.

Unfortunately, I would have to say jerk chicken. I know it will be greatly missed because it is undeniably one of Jamaica’s most famous dishes overseas and locally. I know there’s nothing like that feeling of having some jerk chicken and hard-dough bread with some ketchup and pickle pepper at a jerk stand after you and your friends had a night of partying in the town. But chicken is a universal item. It can be done many other ways, aside from jerking it over a jerk pan to suit our liking. Those other four items are truly one-of-a-kind dishes that are very sacred to us. They have never tried to be emulated by any other cultures. So I’m sorry but jerk chicken has to go. Akai Lindsay, 24, resides in Florida, USA.