hey i am usually asking question s so i thought today i would contribute some of my knowledge lol.....I ate at a jamaican restaraunt for the first time today because I have been reading about how the rasta's eat ital food.....most of it is vegan...this restaraunt just started and so far only have a coupe ital dishes, but what i ate was excellent......no salt, no milk no meat, no eggs no sugar.....but it was definately delicious and spicy....Ya'll should really look into these small indian and jamaican restaraunts and help support them by eating there....just an idea....hope it gives some of the new veg*ns here some ideas of places where you can eat along with your non veghead friends....much love...peace.
Sugar and Salt aren't OK for vegans? Or is that just your perosnal preference? I don't know much about veganism, so it's always really cool to learn some more!
Interesting...it sounds good. I haven't had much Indian food, but what I've had I liked. And I've had a little bit of Jamaican food, which was good.
Hi everyone When i was little, my father had a ton of Rasta friends, direct from Jamaica. He used to go every saturday to his friend's house, where the friend (this ancient vegan man) sold the most amazing food i have tasted to this day. there was always a line out the door! my dad used to call it "eye-tall" (don't know the correct spelling.) my dad passed away 5 years ago, and i don't know who else would know what this food is called, where to find it, or most importantly, how to cook it. the container would usually come with 3-4 different foods, all separated. i think it always had cabbage or some kind of greens, maybe a rice & peas mixture, something like yams, and the main one was a huge steak of veggie pattie (possibly homemade. closest thing to it i know of is seitan, it was really soft and delicate and kind of chewy with a great texture) all the dishes were glorious, mixed or eaten separately. i think some of it was quite spicy. all of it had a lot of color and flavor. please help! any jamaicans out there, able to share recipes for this type of wonderful cuisine? especially the veggie pattie. it was amazing!!! THANKS! p.s. i live in miami, so if anyone can share an address for a local restaurant, i'd be much obliged!
Mmmmm, I have no idea what this is but the way you describe it, it sounds like YUM. Let me see if I can find something along those lines ... Edit: Yes, I found it, or at least the name of it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ital There are also links on that page to other pages with more info, like "Ital is Vital". Good luck friend! 2nd Edit: According to this Wikipedia entry, there is an Ital restaurant in Orlando. I have no idea how far Miami is from there, but you might consider it worth checking out. I went to the website for it, but the domain name has expired and the link is broken. Perhaps the restaurant closed shop, but ... I don't know. Sorry.
THANK YOU! this is such a delight! finally... one step closer to that amazing food which brings back the best memories! thank you so much for finding that!
ital food is amazing... i'm searching for recipes... look out for a post when i can gather and try some! as for indian food there is a book with thousands of recipes called "the art of indian vegetarian cooking".. your library should have it, it's AWESOME!
I've never had jamaican food but I'd like to try it.. And indian food is great for vegetarians, and so yummy.
the ital threads have been merged. congrats, this is the first time people ANSWERED the questions and didn't just get into comments on Rasta (which has a sub in religion for those interested) and pot smoking.
ital, in my experiences, has been somewhat similar to some indian dishes, but hugely without the oily, extra herbed flavor. they use a good amount of curries in their cooking, and very little to no oil. just plain ole simple yummy flavors and WHOLE foods. yes, there has always been cabbage, greens (callalou), root veggies (cassava, taro...), and beans. and some sort of seaweed enhanced veg meat. i've always enjoyed ital cuisine. of course, one would find it in a carribean neighborhood, but be careful - lots of jamaican cooking loads on the meat - make sure the place sells ITAL cuisine.
I have never been to Jamaica, but I went to a restaurant that was dedicated to Bob marley's memory in orlando. It was a replica of his house, and had all sort of photos and artilces and even a bug mural that was like the one in his home. It was a casual, but really nice, beautiful place. They had a few vegetarian dishes, one of which they told me was vegan and it was delicious. It was a pot-pie type thing with cconut milk and sweet potato and I can't remember what exactly else was in it but it was great. It was under the heading of 'Ital Eats"
I'd say it is closer to Eithiopian food (which I guess would make sense) rather than Indian. Indian has only a few greens in use (northern cuisine) and is based on spices, including salt and black salt.
I can see what people mean when they compare it to Indian food though (and the recipes for sweet potato pudding are very similar). Considering Jamaica's Indian population brought herb to the island, I wouldn't be surprised if their cuisine influenced the ital diet in some way.
so a new fusion of Africa and India? I know many dishes in Surinam are a fusion. As a huge fan of Indian cuisines, I didn't see the connection as strongly: again, the relationship to Northern and Eastern African, yes.
