Jessica Craig

I grew up in Central Islip NY, a town in Suffolk County Long Island. I am one of eleven kids. My mom had 9 children and my father had another 2 once he remarried. Both of my parents are Jamaican. I grew up eating things like ackee and saltfish, callaloo, yellow plantains, green plantains, rice and peas, curried goat, curried chicken, jerk pork, and jerk chicken. To me that was normal although my classmates at school helped me to quickly realize that I was different.

My parents separated when I was very young. My mother always worked really hard, upwards of 2-3 jobs, to make sure that we had everything that we needed as a single mother. As much as she worked she’d always make sure to cook, especially on Sundays. It’s true of the Jamaican culture to have rice and peas with a protein such as curried goat or escovitch fish on Sundays. To this day my siblings and I will gather at my mother’s house on a Sunday knowing that she has a homemade meal ready to share with us.