Recipe for Peace - No.1: Out of Many, One People

What’s the one thing that all people from every nation, language and tongue have in common?

We all need to eat!

Food can play an important role in breaking down barriers and uniting cultures, through the necessity of sharing ingredients and mixing flavours.

Food has long since travelled across the seas and engaged with a diverse range of nations.

An Island such as Jamaica for instance, lives by the motto, featured on their coat of arms:

"Out of many, one people."

This summarises the diversity of the island which boasts of history, heritage, and a variety of people from all corners of the world.

Jamaica, the fifth-largest island country in the Caribbean, combines cooking methods from the Spanish, British, East Indian, West African, Portuguese, Chinese, French and the Dutch. It is believed that the Maroons introduced African meat cooking techniques to the Island, combined with the local Jamaican ingredients and seasoning's used by the Arawak Indians. The method of smoking meat for a long period of time provided a deterrent for keeping insects away from the raw meat and preserving it longer once it was cooked, which also introduces a strong smoky flavour to the meat. Hence, Jerk chicken was born.

How did the chicken receive the name "Jerk"?

One theory suggests that it originates from the Spanish word "Charqui", used to describe dried meat. Then the name evolved from "Charqui" to "Jerky" to "Jerk".
Another theory suggests that the name derives from the practice of jerking (poking) holes in the meat to fill with spices prior to cooking. Today, the word "Jerk" is used as a noun to describe the seasoning applied to jerked food and as a verb to describe the process of cooking used.

Jamaica has also experienced civil wars in the past and in 1978, Jamaica hosted The One Love Peace Concert at The National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica. 

Surprisingly, the idea for the One Love Peace Concert came from two gangsters of rival political factions, who happened to be locked up in the same jail cell together and decided to collaborate to alleviate the political civil war in Jamaica.

The One Love Peace Concert brought together 16 of Reggae’s biggest acts, and was reported as the "Third World Woodstock" and duly noted that "Bob Marley plays for Peace". 

The event attracted more than 32,000 spectators with the proceeds of the show going towards “much needed sanitary facilities and housing for the sufferers in West Kingston.

Bob Marley’s  famous hit "One Love/People Get Ready" from the 1977 album Exodus featured the lyrics, “One love, one heart. Let’s get together and feel all right” reminding us of the universal feeling of love we all share, which we can all relate to, no matter where we are in the world, rich or poor, or what religion we subscribe to. 

At that time, Bob Marley brought the spirit of unity, peace, and love as a peace activist who used songs to encapsulate his message as a way to cross borders, break boundaries and resonate with people worldwide.

Bob Marley longed to see a world filled with peace and love but sadly didn’t get to see the fulfilment of the aforementioned moment of peace.

Today we are privileged to witness the world peace movement that is spreading across the world through HWPL’s, Mr Man Hee Lee, the Chairman with a mission to bring world peace to fruition.

I hope it is not long before we see the day when we all get together and…”feel alright!”