I grew up eating ackee and saltfish for breakfast and char siu for dinner. That's not a metaphor. That's literally what happened in my house.
Being Jamaican-Chinese means you exist at the intersection of two of the most flavour-obsessed cultures on earth. Scotch bonnet and five spice. Jerk and soy. Coconut milk in everything — both sides claim it. Growing up, I didn't think any of this was unusual. It was just food. It was just my family.
It took leaving Jamaica, eating in other countries, and coming back to realise how rare and how special this combination actually is.
Two Kitchens, One House
My grandmother's kitchen was the centre of everything. She could make a pot of brown stew chicken that would feed twenty people and somehow still have leftovers. On the same stove, on the same day, she might be steaming fish with ginger and scallion the way her parents taught her. There was no separation between the two cuisines. It was all just our food.
Sunday dinner was the best example. Rice and peas alongside fried rice. Curry goat next to braised duck. Red Stripe and Chinese tea. Nobody thought twice about it. That was the table I grew up at.
What I Learned Without Realising
Looking back, that kitchen taught me more about food than any restaurant or cookbook ever could. I learned that great food is about technique and patience, not recipes. I learned that seasoning is a verb — you don't follow a measurement, you season until it tastes right. I learned that food is how you show love when you don't have the words for it.
The Jamaican side taught me boldness. Big flavours, no apologies. Scotch bonnet isn't optional. Seasoning isn't subtle. You taste the food and you know someone cared enough to build every layer.
The Chinese side taught me balance. Sweet against salty. Heat against cool. The idea that a dish should have harmony — that every ingredient is there for a reason and nothing is wasted.
Put those two together and you get a way of thinking about food that I haven't found anywhere else in the world.
How This Shapes Istry
When I started Istry, people asked me what kind of food company it was. Jamaican? Chinese? Fusion? I never had a good answer because the question itself felt wrong. Istry is a food company built by someone who grew up eating both. The products aren't fusion — they're personal. They come from a specific place and a specific experience. Mine.
Every product we develop goes through the same test: would this hold up at my grandmother's table? That's the bar. Not trends, not what's selling on TikTok, not what looks good in packaging. Would the people who taught me to eat — who taught me to care about food — would they reach for a second serving?
If the answer is yes, we make it.
Jamaica's Chinese Food Culture
Something people outside Jamaica don't know is how deeply Chinese food is embedded in Jamaican culture. Chinese Jamaicans have been here for over 170 years. We're not recent arrivals. The local Chinese restaurant isn't exotic — it's the neighbourhood spot. Every town has one. Everyone has a favourite.
Jamaican-Chinese food is its own thing. It's not mainland Chinese food. It's not Jamaican food. It's something that only exists because two cultures spent generations cooking next to each other, borrowing from each other, and feeding each other. Sweet and sour chicken with festival. Fried rice with pepper shrimp. Wonton soup with a side of hard dough bread.
If you've never had it, you're missing one of the most underrated food cultures in the Caribbean.
What Food Means to Me
I'm not a chef. I'm not trying to open a restaurant. But food is at the centre of almost everything I do. Istry is a food company. SuperPlus is a supermarket. My favourite way to explore a new place is to eat my way through it.
Food is the thing that connects everything in my life — family, culture, business, travel. It's the one constant. No matter what else changes, the way I think about flavour, about feeding people, about the table being the centre of everything — that comes from growing up at the intersection of Jamaica and China.
And I wouldn't trade that for anything.
If you ever find yourself in Kingston and want to know where to eat, reach out. I have opinions.