Born: Jamaica, 1943
Mother tongue: English and Patwah
Granchildren: Sheldon, Charise, Shaunna, Sherelle, Cheniell, Yasmin, Shae, Cyon, Jade, Jentae, Jeihim, Juranuel, Neriyah
They call her: Nan
This is a traditional Jamaican dish that instantly takes me back. It takes me back to that island and to the smells that hit you over the head coming from people’s homes. The original is with saltfish, but I’m vegan and have been a vegetable convert for quite some time now.
The reason for this was that two years back I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Of my own accord, I decided to change the way I eat. I cut out dairy, meat and fish. The fish really was tough to resist when I went back to Jamaica last year, though. Back home, the fish we have is fresh – just come in from the sea – so it’s really delicious.
Still, if I don’t look after myself, no one else is going to do it for me. So I say no to fish, and lots of other things. Cancer feeds on sugar, so I’ve cut that out too. If the family comes over, I’ll cook chicken and fish for them but I don’t eat it myself. My kitchen might be small but I do manage to do a lot of cooking in spite of that.
I like to experiment with my cooking. I try my best to be healthy, and even cake that I make I come up with my own healthy recipes. I use dates and coconut oil to make sweet cakes. You have to learn to be creative when you have five children. I would never let my kids go and buy sandwiches for school. It was ackee and saltfish and fried dumplings. I would make homemade pizza too. It’s so important to use ingredients in their purest form. That way we know exactly what is going into our bodies.
Church is also a big part of my life. I’m a Seventh Day Adventist, which means on Friday evening to Saturday evening, I don’t do a thing (like cooking of cleaning). We believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that he is coming soon, as the King of Kings. The Bible clearly states that this will happen. My children don’t believe in church, but I do tell them the Lord is coming soon. They just say, ‘OK, OK, Mummy.’ The grandchildren came with me until they became a bit older.
I arrived in the UK in 1962 from Jamaica because my sisters were here. They sent for me to come and painted such a picture of England. You know, there was all this talk of Buckingham Palace and so, growing up in Jamaica, you think everyone in England lives in palaces. Everybody was coming at the time. It was exciting. I came by ship and shared a cabin with six other girls. I rather quite liked that three-week journey. I just remember arriving and thinking, Is this it?
I came in April and I saw the fog and all the grey as we approached and I really wondered what I had got myself into. My sisters told me nothing about the weather. I had just been fed this fantasy about palaces. Back in Jamaica, we were under colonial rule and so we were all very impressed by this great empire. All British people living in Jamaica had money.
Most of them were diplomats and they had maids, gardeners and so on. We genuinely thought we’d come to England and have that. I could barely believe white men swept the streets when I arrived in London, because in Jamaica all the white people were so rich. We thought all English people were incredibly wealthy. It didn’t matter too much though, because I was well-received and I settled into a community here. That means more than wealth to me.
