2 Girls and a Cookshop enjoys culinary homecoming

With food acting as an agent and universal language of love, local and international food enthusiasts made their way to the Festival Marketplace in downtown Kingston for the highly anticipated Jamaica Food and Drink Festival’s Kuyah experience.

Waving the 876 flag high were newcomers to the event, 2 Girls and a Cookshop. The restaurant, based in New York in the United States, has taken more than a bite out of the Big Apple, making quite a name for themselves by way of customers’ palates, with their world-famous Jamaican tacos.

The Jamaican-American duo beamed with excitement as the news broke of their journey to Jamaica for the 10th staging of the annual culinary showcase. “It felt incredible to be invited to Kingston and participate in the Jamaica Food and Drink Festival’s 10-year anniversary. It has been an exciting and humbling experience. Having our Jamaican tacos in Jamaica? Now, that’s a full-circle, Jamaican taco moment,” Chef Shelly Flash, founder and chief executive officer of 2 Girls and a Cookshop, told Food.

Flash recalls coming to Jamaica year after year with the desire to serve their interpretation of Jamaican fare. She is from a long line of caterers, housekeepers and hard-working women, and it fills her heart to be on the island as one of the very few female chefs representing her family and her culture.

This thrilling homecoming saw their roots reimagined, inviting fans to line up and sink their teeth into one of the restaurant’s popular menu items: jerk birria with jerk consommé. This Mexican-inspired dish with a Jamaican twist consists of jerk chicken, sweet plantain and melted five-cheese blend, topped with a jerk lime crema with a spicy dipping broth.

“The theme was to reimagine Jamaican cuisine, so we had to bring the jerk birria with jerk consommé taco because it is doing just that. The birria bridges a beautiful melting pot of flavours, culture and story by bringing a new twist of the jerk chicken and sweet plantain and five-cheese blend, taking those beautiful and amazing spicy juices and creating a consommé. This dish encompasses the marriage of multiple cultures in one,” she explained.

The aim was to highlight nostalgic flavours, ones known and loved, but presented in a uniquely elevated way.

So, how exactly did patrons respond to such a mouth-watering dish? The reviews showed that many were pleasantly surprised by local and authentic spices that delivered a kick in flavour like no other.

OVERWHELMING SUPPORT

“The response has been out of this world! I continue to get goosebumps [and] pinch myself. And I’ve cried a little bit, just because I am so blessed and humbled to be here and to be received so well. Persons have shown us nothing but love and support,” she said.

Flash continued, “It was great to be welcomed in such a beautiful way, because oftentimes, as first generations, you don’t know or you don’t feel like you’re enough. You’re not enough of a Jamaican; you’re not American enough; you’re not anything enough. But one thing that will forever ground us and centre us is food. When people see themselves in the food, they see the stories, and they’re going to show you love. We were happy to receive love on top of love.”

The mother-daughter team also had the honour and the pleasure of serving at the Meet Street event on Saturday as well. “I really wanted to do this event, because I wanted to serve the local people and ensure that they had the opportunity to experience our food. We stood out in the crowd, got to introduce our food to so many different people and got great feedback. And to be at Port Royal was incredible. Going from the craft market on Thursday to being by the water on Saturday felt so quintessentially Jamaican!”

Kuyah’s homage to the island’s taste treasures also featured star chefs like Jacqui Tyson, who kept the crowd coming with her street-style pita with curried goat. Joining that curried goat line-up was Chef Brian Lumley, with his take on the protein, served in a wonton along with a papaya-June plum chutney. While Chef Jonathan Simpson of Jabba’s took taste buds on a journey with ackee and peppered shrimp sushi rolls with pickled vegetables and tamarind sauce.

Back on the international food front, Food Network’s Chopped champion, Chef Andre Fowles, could be found at the Scotiabank booth presenting his scrumptious stewed pork ragu with handmade breadfruit and ricotta gnocchi roasted mushrooms and micro herbs to others with a smile.

Chef Andre Sewell teased and pleased foodies with his pan chicken-and-bread. Chef Oji Jaja delivered mouth-watering ‘peppa’ shrimps. And Chef Gariel Ferguson stepped outside of the ‘lunch’ box with fried curried chicken and jerked corned pork and bacon jam sando.

The women of 2 Girls and a Cookshop already have exciting plans for the rest of the year, which includes participating in other food festivals in Orlando and Miami in Florida.”We have some special announcements, including one that features coming back to Jamaica. So make sure you follow us online for more details,” Flash added.

krysta.anderson@gleanerjm.com