A Sunday is not a Sunday

Appears in
Pimp My Rice: Over 100 inspirational rice recipes from around the world

By Nisha Katona

Published 2017

  • About
Rice and peas is a mainstay of Jamaican cuisine. A Sunday is not a Sunday without rice and peas, is how the saying goes.
The truth is that like every good food-loving culture, the Jamaicans are judgemental. If you don’t serve rice and peas on a Sunday it means that you were too lazy to start the marathon prep that soaks up one’s Saturday night, washing and soaking the kidney beans and infusing them with garlic.
The tradition and the dish have taken on a profound and almost sanctified position in the Jamaican kitchen and, indeed, the Jamaican psyche. I remember well the outrage and public revolt at an advert for stock cubes that featured a very famous, foul-mouthed TV chef … yes, I know that does not narrow things down much! However, he rather hilariously created his Jamaican-inspired rice and peas using … wait for it … brown rice and … garden peas. This achieved both insult and injury in a one-pot dish. Public meltdown ensued and a prompt removal of the advert was the result. This was sacrilege, they screamed. And that is how seriously the Jamaicans take their rice and peas.