Sunday Dinner

North Americans celebrate the feast of thanksgiving once a year, embarking on the official start of the Holiday Season. In Jamaica, Thanksgiving is what we call Sunday. You can always look forward to a proper spread for Sunday dinner in Jamaica. It starts bright and early, and usually involves a second serving. Sounds familiar? The main dish is the dinner, which is always served with rice and peas. The “peas” are kidney beans, but gungo peas and rice have been making appearances in this starring role. The gungo peas option is tricky though — know your audience and I wouldn’t serve this option two weeks in a row. You’ve been warned. I’ve heard my mother go as far as to say that if she does not have “rice and peas” on Sundays, she doesn’t feel right. That’s the power of one meal, which the entire island will repeat in seven days. 

The preparation begins the night before, yes, after a very long day’s work on Saturday. The meat is seasoned and the peas are soaked in water to soften up for cooking. On Sunday morning, tea and toast will not do, it’s a big breakfast morning. Ackee and saltfish is always a leading favorite, but callaloo, mackerel, kidney or liver with ground foods are frequent choices as well. Breakfast and dinner are prepared simultaneously. This is because the household members will attend Sunday church service and dinner must be ready or close to being ready upon returning. 

The star of the meal is the rice and peas. It is also the most delicate in its preparation. Not only is the use of fresh coconut expected, but the peas must also be tender and cooked eveningly with the rice. Please take note that your rice and peas should never be white. I can’t stress this hard enough. It’s an intricate balance; the best cooks never use standard measurements and or recipes. I’ve used a measuring cup and canned beans and my family wouldn’t eat it. The most common option to accompany rice and peas is chicken — fried, roasted, baked or BBQ. A little bit more than the average, weekly browned stew chicken. Oxtail (emphasis on no plural “s”) or cow foot — yuck — I mean, yum, come close as second options. Beef, fish and curry goat could make Sunday dinner appearances, but most likely do not. If any does, it’s in conjunction with another holiday and/or celebration that has a two-meat to multiple protein option for the dinner spread. Then the Sunday vegetables — grated cabbage and carrots — are added. I can firmly state that Jamaicans don’t eat vegetables willingly on any other day of the week. On Sundays however, it doesn’t go unnoticed. Lastly, the beverage is added and that too is special, and stands out from the rest of the week. Options include fruit punch, guava (my favorite), soursop, carrot or some other concoction. 

The day wraps up with the family gathered around the television, a drive to the best ice cream parlor in town and then getting busy preparing for the week to come. Jamaican Sundays are the embodiment of the song title Easy like Sunday morning, just not if you’re a woman. Yet, we do it every single week.