our story
Food is one of the most powerful ways to a person’s heart.
That’s true for Anthony Green, whose first chef training began at the apron of his uncle while growing up in Jamaica. Uncle Beres showed and taught him how to make authentic Jamaican jerk seasoning, a fresh marinade that flavors food with the unmistakably delicious flavor Jamaica is famous for.
While there was no written recipe to pass down, the love of food and family was written on Anthony's heart. Those early experiences with Uncle Beres created an unbreakable bond in Anthony’s life, sending him on a trajectory that brought him to where he is today.
For 15 years, Anthony has been spreading his culinary knowledge and skills to others as a college chef instructor. He feels a deep sense of responsibility and love to his family in Jamaica, and has dedicated his life to the ministry of food to honor them.
Uncle Bere's seasoning
Historically, Jerk is a style of cooking that was started in the hills of Jamaica by the Maroons–runaway slaves who escaped the plantations. Building a life for themselves, they used what they had from the land including wild boar to sustain their families.
Jerk refers to a way that the food is seasoned and cooked, be it chicken, beef, pork, goat, fish, vegetables, or fruit. The typical cooking style uses a marinade or paste that includes pimento (often called allspice) and Scotch bonnet peppers. The meat is then marinated and slow smoked over pimento wood. "Pimentio" is a Spanish word for pepper and early European explorers mistook this for black pepper, so they called it pimento.
The word "Jerk" started as a noun and then became a verb, as in "Jerking," which meant to poke holes in the meat so the spices could permeate the meat. Jerk cooking experts say that the name Jerk also could have come from the turning of the meat in the marinade or from the way some folks will just jerk a strip right off the roast on the BBQ. We don't really insist on any of it, except it's delicious and magical, according to our feedback!
