Jamaican Food and Drink Festival Redefines Caribbean Cuisine

Oxtail Pizza? Seriously?

The theme of the 11th annual Jamaica Food and Drink Festival (JFDF) in Kingston was themed “Jamaican Food Reimagined,” which featured top chefs creating modern twists on traditional flavors with all-inclusive food and drinks. Hosted by CB Foods, the celebration strives to bring together some of the most talented chefs from across the nation. It seemed reasonable there would be a few surprises at JFDF but asking me to twist my brain around a ridiculous combination like oxtail on a pizza was asking a lot. I couldn’t believe what I was actually reading on the menu.

If you aren’t aware, oxtail is a beloved dish throughout the Caribbean, particularly in Jamaica, where it is often served as a celebratory main course with rice and peas. I am no stranger to this delicacy but I have to admit I had never had it served on a pizza as a topping. For chef Dominic Pearson of Dom’s Pizza it was clear that thinking outside the box was not something he was afraid to do.

Under the heat of a Caribbean night sky, Pearson whipped out a crispy, cheesy, piping hot slice. The dish featured garlic olive oil butter, mozzarella, braised oxtail finished with parm, drizzles of basil-rosemary oil, and onion chili crunch. The stop at the opening event called Kuyah featured music, drinks, and dozens of the nation’s top chefs transforming classic Jamaican ingredients into new culinary creations. Visitors lined up in rows to get a slice of this spicy contribution.

The first thing I noticed were all the chunks of seasoned oxtail that dotted the slice. What struck me next as I took my first bite was the heat – both the temperature and spice signature lit up my tongue like a firecracker spark. Pearson’s memorable dish created a stir at the event as many in attendance had never seen that combo on a pizza.

“I actually have a client that I have made pizza for in the past, so this isn’t actually the first time I have tried this,” says Pearson. “For this event it was simply a perfect match. If you’re looking for traditional Jamaican food to put on a pizza, I think oxtail is it because it’s rich and flavorful. It’s just a question of coming up with ways to present it. I made my pizza with a strong garlic base and of course, lots of piping hot cheese.”

There is an expectation — a familiarity, if you will — people have when they buy Jamaican food and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s not hard to see why the festival is continuing to grow and gain popularity. All the excellent favorites I have known all my life and come to expect from Jamaican cuisine were at the festival  — collard greens, rice loaded with kidney beans, plantains, jerk chicken, and fritters.

For chef Joseph Johnson, Hospitality Entrepreneur of Concepts By J Limited & Peckish, Jamaican food has always been more than just something to satiate hunger. Growing up in Jamaica, food was connection, celebration, storytelling, and community all in one. Jamaican cuisine has always been open to creativity and interpretation.

“I was inspired by how meals could bring people together and create memories. Over time, that passion evolved into wanting to create experiences through food — not just dishes, but moments people remember. Hospitality became an extension of that passion, and it continues to inspire everything I build today,” says Johnson. “Jamaican food tells the story of who we are as a people. It reflects resilience, creativity, culture, and history. What makes our cuisine so special is the depth of flavor and the way we transform simple ingredients into something unforgettable. Every parish, every household, every cook adds their own identity and personality to the food.

Jamaican Festival Blends Tradition and New Flavors

But what if these flavors could be completely reimagined? That was the burning question that the JFDF attempted to answer with one succulent creation after the other. It is also the sheer genius for the festival, which challenged these outstanding chefs not just with the task of creating the food we know and love, but blowing it up into combinations that rattled our imaginations.

People who love island cuisine are familiar with curry goat, fried dumplings, oxtail stew, jerk chicken, Jamaican patties and countless tropical drinks. For people of the Caribbean or who have ties to the region — for people like me — these flavors are not just items on a menu, they offer the taste of home, of childhood. Oxtail is probably the last thing I would have considered for pizza before I tried it in Kingston. One of the goals of the festival was to reimagine what Jamaican cuisine could be.

Bend your mind around a smoked pimento pork belly with rice and peas arancini, callaloo pesto and jerk tamarind sauce or loaded curry goat balls, with goat meat stuffed with bacon, plantains, and pepperjack cheese? Imagine the unique yet familiar taste of coconut saltfish and callaloo fritters topped with scotch bonnet-flaked salmon and drizzled with Jalapeño mango ranch? Or saffron rice crisp with jerk sausage? Imagine a Caribbean staple like Oxtail Pavè, with shredded braised meat, cassava, potato foam, smoked parmesan cheese?

Roast Specialty Meats founder and owner Simon Levy is a Jamaican-based producer of artisan cured and smoked meats. At the JFDF Exclusive Brunch, Levy served smoked ribeye with jus, paprika-cured smoked salmon with mustard aioli, and a reverse-seared lamb rack with chimichurri. The chef’s food was outstanding but what I loved most was his wide selection of cultured compound butters, including burnt scallion and garlic, smoked Scotch bonnet, and nduja.

Levy says Jamaican food is already fusion food whether people realize it or not. Jamaican cuisine is built from so many different cultures meeting in one place over generations, and I think that’s what makes it so exciting.

“For me, food doesn’t need hard boundaries anymore. I’m less interested in whether something is ‘traditional enough’ and more interested in whether it tastes good, makes sense, and still respects the foundation it came from,” says Levy. “Some of the best dishes happen when you take techniques, flavors, or ideas from different cultures and let them naturally work together.”

Levy says at the end of the day, good food is about connection, curiosity, and whether it genuinely tastes good — and Jamaican cuisine has the depth and confidence to do that beautifully.

“I think people are becoming more open to the idea that cuisine can evolve without losing its identity,” says Levy. “You can respect the roots of a dish while still pushing it somewhere new. The core flavors, the soul, and the history are still there, but there’s room to push creatively too, and I think that’s where a lot of exciting food is happening right now.”

All the excellent culinary delicacies I have grown up with and the excellence that I have come to expect from Jamaican cuisine was being served up to delighted diners at the event, which has earned the title of Best Caribbean Food Festival in 2021, 2022, and 2025 from the World Culinary Awards.

Shattering Myths about Jamaican’s Cuisine

JFDF company director Nicole Pandohie says she got the idea of the festival after travelling to Miami and seeing first hand how the South Beach Food and Wine Festival operated.

Pandohie knew she could help build something similar in her country. Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, she was exposed to outstanding cuisine at a young age before moving to Jamaica in 1995. She believed she could create an event that showcased not just Jamaican cuisine but also the range of its gastronomy given the population’s potpourri of cultures, culinary skillset, and global exposure.

“The motivation was to position Kingston and Jamaica as a gastronomy destination in the hopes of driving our many ‘sun, sand and sea’ visitors that come to the North Coast annually, to the city to experience a more ‘authentic’  Jamaica in terms of food, flavors, culture and vibe —  to offer a taste of Jamaica beyond the beach and beyond just jerk,” says Pandohie. “Today we are a staple on the food and tourism calendar for locals and for a growing number of visitors.”

The data backs up those numbers. In 2015, JFDF had a total patronage of 2,780 over five events; in March 2026 it had over 12,000 patrons with about 22% international guests and the events sold out. Over 11 years JFDF has staged more than 90 food events and hosted greater than 60,000 patrons. Inclusion of international chefs who have taken Jamaican/Caribbean cuisines to the world include Andre Fowles, Patrick Simpson, and Ainsley Lambie.

The event also showcased the local heritage of Kingston while pushing culinary boundaries and featured chef Scotley Innis, known for his refined Caribbean approach and international experience on “Hell’s Kitchen”. Innis is the co-owner of Hotel Indigo Williamsburg’s food and beverage program as well as Continent Atlanta. Born in The Bronx, raised between New York and Jamaica, he built his reputation as executive chef at top Atlanta restaurants like 5Church Midtown, South City Kitchen, and Ormsby’s.

Pandohie says following the hurricane last year the organizers decided they needed to have an event that celebrated Jamaica. “And so we had this idea of Jamaican food re-imagined and unsurprisingly, local chefs were up to the challenge. They are creative beings. They can produce a great dish including amazing oxtail, curry goat or Eskovich fish,” says Pandohie. “But a pepper shrimp poke bowl, a rice and peas arancini, like, that is how you show the level of creativity of the chefs. And it also shows you that Jamaican cuisine has a place on the world stage because it can mesh well, it can vibe with other cuisines and cultures.”

We have all been inspired by fusion — Korean-Mexican tacos, Thai-influenced Italian pasta and Korean BBQ to list some examples. JFDF forced me to ask a simple question — why not Jamaican fusion? Why not Jamaican food fused with Pad Thai, Thailand’s national dish? Or Haggis from Scotland? Or Qatar’s Machboos? Or Iceland’s Kjötsúpa? Or Dhal Puri from Mauritius?  Or a national Canadian dish like poutine? Just how deep can this rabbit hole actually go?

Now those are ridiculous combinations that I am keen to try and twist my brain around.