Kingston Curry Festival to ignite taste buds on December 1

Kingston Curry Festival is poised to be a complete culinary experience for participants and patrons alike. With music, food, an artisan village and craft market, the annual festival is primed to position our island to locals and visitors who want to experience a gastronomic journey.

This year, Kingston Curry Festival will be held on Sunday, December 1, at the East Lawn, Devon House, Kingston.

According to event organiser, Leighton Davis, the event will be a culinary adventure and celebration of everything curry.

“Curry is a key ingredient in most households in Jamaica that is cooked weekly to satisfy spicy cravings. This year, there will be a variety of tasty offerings on display and a wide array of curry-inspired dishes to choose from. Kingston Curry Festival will be the place where everything is curried, from lobsters, crabs, goat to shrimp, chicken and even mangoes,” Davis said.

The objective, he said, is to showcase the best curry dishes from local chefs and restaurants. All food and music lovers can anticipate enjoying their favourite curried foods and great music, plus it’s a family event.

“We are looking forward to delivering a unique experience and an amazing mix of food, music and art to everyone that attends. With curry adding an interesting twist and a tantalising kick to dishes, especially those we never thought could be curried, this event will be a unique experience for the entire family,” Davis said.

Curry arrived in Jamaica and the rest of the region via east Asian workers that were shipped here by the British Empire, mostly during the 19th century. Asian cooking traditions meshed well with a lot of the west African cuisine already present at the time, and evolved into the modern tastes and flavours we have today.

The use of curry powder, which is a blend of various spices including turmeric, cumin, coriander, and chilli, became popular in Jamaican cuisine. Today, it is enjoyed not only in Jamaica but also in various Caribbean communities around the world.

“The most prolific curry dish is, of course, curry chicken, but Jamaican cuisine is not about to restrict you to chicken. The strong flavour profile of curry powder goes perfectly with more flavourful meats like beef, and pork. Goat is one of the most common meats eaten outside the Western world,” Davis said.

If you are not a meat eater, or you are just looking for something a bit lighter, other great options await in the realm of seafood. Curry fish and curry shrimp are flavourful alternative to spicier dishes like jerk shrimp for people who do not get as excited about the Scotch bonnet pepper burn.

The excitement is building as vendors and chefs get ready to prepare their signature dishes for patrons. Davis said they look forward to entertaining all their guests.

keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com