Traveling Jamaica with Knife, Fork & Spoon: A Righteous Guide to Jamaican Cookery

``Out of many, one people'' is the national motto of Jamaica, where a wide-ranging cuisine reflects the immense diversity of a culture that draws on Spanish, French, British, East Indian and Amerindian influences. During a two-week food odyssey across the island, the authors sampled dishes characteristic of its regions: jerk pork, chicken, ackee and saltfish in Faiths Pen, a strip of highway food stalls en route to the beach resorts of Ocho Rios; an elegant dessert of coffee chiffon at the Blue Mountain Inn, 4000 feet above sea level; Sister Fire's vegetarian I-Tal Stew, a Rastafarian specialty, in an open-air restaurant on a hill above a beach. Walsh and McCarthy, a chef, pay special attention to the aromas and flavors of native fresh fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, and try to convey the freewheeling attitude necessary for reproducing classic Jamaican food at its exotic best. A glossary of foods and a list of Caribbean food resources are included. (Mar.)