From Jamaica Observer

Early rains did not damper Independence celebrations in the Cayman Islands last week Friday. What it did was cool things down considerably, allowing patrons dressed for the most part in black, green and gold — the Jamaican national colours — to proudly walk the length and breadth of Cardinal Avenue, Georgetown, browsing the many food stalls, fuelling up on their favourite dishes, raising a toast to Jamaica’s 54 years, all the while swaying to the beats of reggae, ska and mento.

The event was endorsed by the Jamaican consulate as one of the official Jamaican Independence celebration events in the Cayman Islands and attracted sponsorship from established brands like Jamaica National, GraceKennedy, Digicel, the Best Dressed Chicken, Hot 104.1 FM, Radio Cayman, Vitamalt, Popeye’s, Appleton, and Heineken. The aims each year is to celebrate Jamaica’s Independence in a wholesome family atmosphere, provide quality entertainment for all age groups, showcase Jamaica’s cultural forms, educate and share Jamaica’s cultural diversity, and promote and highlight the cultural ties between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands — it certainly hit all the right notes and, most importantly, tantalised the taste buds.

Thursday Life shares highlights from Cardinal Avenue where, from 7:00 am – 4:00 pm, visitors enjoyed traditional breakfast, lunch and dinner offerings. The Best Dressed booths offered hearty stewed chicken and fried dumplings for breakfast, barbecue chicken wings for lunch, and jerk chicken and rice and peas for supper.

Caterer Lorna Campbell offered fried fish with bammy and festival and curried goat, while Antoinette Griffiths and Kerri-Ann Miller served jerk chicken.

IMAGES:

Pan jerked chicken prepared just like in Jamaica (David Goddard)

Elaine Harris (left), Jamaica’s honorary vice-consul in Cayman; Avadaugn Sinclair (centre), regional marketing programmes manager, Best Dressed Chicken; and Gail Bell, consular officer at the Jamaican consulate in Cayman (David Goddard)

Caterers Antoinette Griffiths (left) and Kerri- Ann Miller show off guineps and plums at the Jamaica Independence celebrations in Cayman. (David Goddard)

The Best Dressed Chicken promoters Stacey-Ann Nelson (left) and Patricia Minott are all set to serve breakfast (David Goddard)

For more on this story go to: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/A-Taste-of-Jamaica-in-CAYMAN_69967