Dig in Ainsworth Spence's Mandeville baby back ribs.

The Jamaican Jerk Festival held at Markham Park, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Sunday, November 8, was a major hit. People from all cultural orientations came out to enjoy everything jerk from ice cream to fritters.

The weather was pleasant and it was a perfect day to relax and eat some tasty jerk dishes. Entire families came to unwind while they wolfed down Jamaican jerked chicken, pork, fish, conch and more. One of the event organisers, Sydney Roberts, vice-president of Jamaican Jerk Festival Inc, says that this year is bigger than last year. He is proud that for the eighth staging, Grace has come on board as the title sponsor, resulting in the name change from Miami Jerk Festival to Grace Jamaican Jerk Festival. He was also happy that the Publix Super Markets chain had joined with them.

"Publix partnering with us is really an achievement and their representatives assured us that they are here to stay," Roberts said.

More booths

This year there were 60 food booths over last year's 25. This, he said, alleviated the massive pile-up at the food stations. Also, there were two Boston Jerk booths, 25 art and craft, 15 corporate and five alumni booths. There was one vendor who came from New York and one from Yallahs, St Thomas, Jamaica, to participate in the festival.

Another organiser of the event, June Minto, told The Gleaner that every year they strive to make the festival better. "If you expand, you take on more challenges, but we have an excellent committee who work very hard on making it a success," she says.

She said that the Publix celebrity cook-off was a huge success and they had personalities such as former NFL players Kerry Glenn and Bennie Blades doing their thing in the kitchen. Celebrity judges included Jamaican-born Sara Mair from Food Network Top Chef and Helen Willinsky, author of Jerk Barbecue from Jamaica.

Cook-off

For the popular Publix Jerk Cook-off, eight contestants broughtit up a notch this year competing for the Dutch Pot trophy and US$2,500 cash prize. Some did the usual jerk chicken, pork or fish but with a twist. Robert Wong did jerk oxtail and in the end that won him the top spot. Second place again went to Ainsworth Spence and his team with Asian short rib with Asian barbeque jerk sauce and third place went to Eaton Owen and his team with their jerk lamb chops with jerk salsa sauce.

Markham Park was transformed into an oasis of jerk stalls and the aroma of mouth-watering jerk filtered through the air tempting the nostrils. One could not help but dig into the tasty treats. The line at the jerk ice cream stall was long for most of the day, as patrons could not get enough of the spicy flavour of jerk in the creamy delight.

As a household name, the Boston Jerk booth had quite a crowd for the entire day as well, and so did Truck Stop. But, the Yallahs jerk team also had their following for a rookie at the festival.

Shereen Smith, a Jamaican who has recently moved to Florida, says it was her first time at the festival and she loves it. She says the set-up reminds her of home and the food is very good. It was also Carlos Lopez's first time at the event and his first time eating jerk and concluded, "it is fantastic, good stuff."

Kerry Blades (right) is bursting with joy after winning the Celebrity Quick Fire Cook-off as Chef Irie (Hugh Sinclair) shows his support. - photos by Keisha Shakespeare

Left: Yummy! Eaton Owen's pork kabob, served in orange and pineapple jerk sauce, is mouth-wateringly good. Right: Eaton Owen's jerked lamb chop served in a jerk salsa sauce.