With grey, drizzly mornings all week, it was nice to get away to the Caribbean with our breakfast crew! Students made cornmeal porridge, a traditional breakfast from Jamaica, cooking it with coconut milk, cinnamon sticks, freshly grated nutmeg, and vanilla. We topped the porridge with tropical fruits both new and familiar. Most of our chefs had never worked with kiwano (horned melon) and feijoa (pineapple guava) before. Many were shocked that the spiky, bright orange horned melon revealed a mess of slimy green seeds that taste like cucumber inside.
Students also worked with banana, tropikiwi, and dried mango, papaya, pineapple, and coconut. A drizzle of condensed milk finished their presentation, and we listened to some Bob Marley while we ate. I hadn’t remembered he sings about cornmeal porridge in “No Woman, No Cry” until we were sitting around the table eating the porridge together and the song came on - it was a special moment.
