Lolita Long, Gleaner New York EditorNEW YORK:
TUCKED AWAY on the shelves of major supermarkets in the United States are Jamaican food items. Some are authentic Jamaican goods, while others carry a 'Jamaican' label, but are only placed strategically to attract the growing number of Jamaicans who crave to indulge in 'yard' food.
Labels such as 'Grace' 'Jamaican Choice' 'Walkerswood' 'Caribbean Dreams' 'Caribbean Delight' and a host of others compete for the attention of shoppers in large-chain supermarkets such as Pathmark, C-Town-Krysdale Foods, Allied Stores. The well-known 'Grace' label comes on items from seasonings to ackees.
"I know the Grace label, so I am inclined to pick up those things I need from Grace, depending sometimes of course on the price," said Elaine Wedderburn, a shopper in one of the Allied Stores in Brooklyn.
Not so, for Irma Dawkins, at one of the Pathmark stores.
"The price is what I go by for all the regular things, when I feel like," she said in a familiar Jamaican accent. She admitted however that she loves the ackee, callaloo, and the hot jerk sauce.
Ricardo Bryan, Grace's International Market Manager for North USA, is fully aware of the competition within the marketplace. He disagreed that the pricing of Grace products is always high.
"Our pricing is not always higher. The coconut water, for example is only US99 cents and that is competitive. Some of the other brands can't verify for quality, and [our] quality is guaranteed. We are conscious of the market and demands, and we are competitive without being exorbitant," Mr. Bryan said.
Part of the reason shoppers, such as Ms. Wedderburn, still recognise the 'Grace' label is mainly due to the extensive distribution system the company has in place.
"We have been going for niche marketing mainly among the immigrant population," said Bryan. Pathmark Supermarket chain, one of the largest in the U.S., has been impressed with Grace's growth in the ethnic communities across the U.S.
"They have seen the growth created, and that has created revenue for the supermarket chain. They are impressed with the Caribbean ethnic food and the strong brands and are willing to work with us," Mr. Bryan said. Efforts to get a reaction from Pathmark was unsuccessful.
Grace's products are distributed in Chicago, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
"The company's sales have doubled in the market from the Carolinas, to New England to Boston," said Mr. Bryan.
Grace, however, faces a strong challenge from bakers and distributors of other brands who want to be part of the success.
Some of these brands give confusing signals. Some are manufactured in Jamaica, some carry well-known labels, but are made in other parts of the world.
A check with some supermarkets in Brooklyn and Queens showed the 'Jamaican Choice' label items placed strategically to compete with 'Grace' and others like 'Walkerswood.'
LABELS
One 'Jamaican Choice' item, the Barbadian-style hot sauce, was also labelled "products of Costa Rica, imported and distributed by Finest Brand Food Distribution Company, Woodhaven, Queens" The selling price was US$1.39.
There was also the Grace Butter Beans (lima beans) 'packed for Grace, Kennedy, 73 Harbour Street,' and was a 'product of the US.' The Grace 'Jack Mackerel' with a price of US$1.19 was a 'product of Thailand, packed for Grace, Kennedy Jamaica.' The 'Jamaican Choice' coconut water that 'gives real tropical treat' is a product of Thailand. The hot pepper with the same label was "made in Costa Rica" while the West Indian Jamaican jerk sauce was a product of Jamaica.
Another label 'Caribbean Dreams' had packages of cerasse tea, packed in Jamaica by Risk Management of Norman Road. Efforts to contact the company that distributes the Jamaican Choice products were fruitless. There was no telephone listing for the company in Woodhaven, Queens.
Irma, the Pathmark shopper was not perturbed. "If it says Jamaican then it's Jamaican. I really don't read the labels."
YAM
The bodegas (small corner shops) and the fruit markets carry a wide assortment of goods that could be misconstrued as Jamaican. There is yellow yam, the Jamaican dasheen, the Negro yam, the yampi yam, Costa Rica Yam, Tropical Brazil yam that all stare you in the face in the food market. Prices for what one thinks is Jamaican yam are far more exorbitant than the one from Costa Rica, for example.
Unless a customer is making a conscious decision to buy what he thinks is Jamaican yam at $1.79 per lb, then the alternative would be to get a slice of 'regular' yam for 99 cents per lb or Yucca (cassava) for 69 cents.
"We cater to large number Jamaicans customers (who) want the products," said Harry Jang slowly in stifled English. Jang is the manager of Associated Food in Starrett City, one of the largest supermarkets in the Brooklyn area. "Sometimes they don't go fast," he said. when asked about the price.
FAVOURITES
The bodegas, the Korean stores keep the communities hopping with favourites such as mackerel, pig tail, chicken foot, pig tripe.
"We never used to sell foot of the chicken, but customers want, so we sell," said Peung, the cashier at one of the Korean stores on Flatbush.
That was reinforced as up walked a Jamaican, who had in her shopping basket, pigtail, cabbage, plantains and chicken foot.
On Hillside Avenue in Queens, one Korean shopkeeper said that he used to throw away the "chicken foot, but no more."
It doesn't matter whether it's chicken foot, or Grace Tropical Rhythms, or cerasse tea or even banana leaves in a package, the stores, major corporations, or small family businesses, they are doing thriving business because of the need of Jamaican and Caribbean peoples who have carried their cultural eating habits from the islands to the mainland.
