TEXARKANA, Texas - This Saturday's Cultural Food Event and Night Market for the Texarkana Farmers' Market offers a taste of Jamaica and the Netherlands.
Held downtown at the market from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., the cultural food lesson will introduce locals to both Jamaican food like Jamaican jerk chicken, ackee and saltfish and Dutch oliebollen treats. Both a taste test and cooking demonstration are part of each introduction.
Annemarie Sullivan, the Texas-side Texarkana Farmers' Market cultural foods coordinator and mobile market manager, said Vashil Fernandez will share savory Jamaican dishes, while Dutch Spring Farm will share the dessert oliebollen, which she describes as like a doughnut, a traditional New Year's treat.
"They're going to be demonstrating, they're going to be cooking there on site," Sullivan said, "And then we'll be giving away the food, too."
They strive to make the Cultural Food Event interactive. As of Friday, market staff were assembling a new setup for the cooking part of it all. "It will enable us to do those cooking demonstrations," Sullivan said.
Fernandez, who is a vendor and also works for the city's planning and community development department, said his mother is here from Jamaica and will cook a typical breakfast dish that they might eat at home.
"We'll be doing a typical Sunday afternoon dish," Fernandez said, as well. For breakfast it's ackee, a tropical fruit. "But you can't pick it off a tree and eat it, per se. You have to cook it because it will send you to the hospital if you don't. So it has to be cooked."
They'll serve it with saltfish, which makes for a Jamaican national fish. They'll also serve it vegan style with onions and tomatoes.
"And then we're bringing in another thing that grows in the Caribbean called breadfruit. You roast it first and then you fry it," Fernandez said, who's looking forward to sharing this tradition at the market.
"I've always been big on embracing my culture," he said, and he's happy to have his mother here to share it. He grew up in Jamaica, moving to the U.S. when he was around 18, coming here on a scholarship.
Last year he worked with Sullivan on the market. As a vendor, he also makes various sweet breads, like zucchini bread, apple bread, banana bread and, sometimes, desserts he grew up eating, such as the coconut tart.
They'll talk about the foods as well as demonstrate how to cook them, offering insight into another culture's food traditions and their significance.
Fernandez would like Texarkana people to understand different cultures that exist outside of Texarkana. He's explored cultures from all over the world.
For people here to to have the opportunity to see many different cultures helps, he believes. "It helps to give you perspective, too, as well," Fernandez said.
Many of the same market vendors from the morning market will attend at night during this come-and-go event.
(The Texarkana, Texas Farmers' Market is located at 305 Texas Blvd. For more information, visit Texarkanafarmersmarket.com.)