Fish Instead of Ham for Christmas
At this time, most people are busy buying their ham and turkey for their traditional Christmas Dinner on Sunday. The rice and beans, made with coconut milk, and accompanied by potato salad, stuffings, cranberry sauce also dress the plate with these choices of meat. But there are people who do not eat turkey and others too who do not eat ham. And there might be those who want to do something different from the norm this year, for whatever reason. So we went out looking for substitute choices of meat that are available for that Christmas dinner. Here’s News Five’s Marion Ali.
Marion Ali, Reporting
This Sunday dinner will be fully-loaded in many households because it will be Christmas Day, but for people who do not eat meat or you’re just looking for something different, you can bake a fish. And you’ll be happy to know that the price of fish at this time of year does not increase.
Gilbert Gibson
Gilbert Gibson, Fish Vendor, Michael Finnegan Market
“Yoh got people weh nuh eat meat in general soh dehn eat fish. And this time ah the year, lotta people now, because wi di get health-conscious, dehn want eat fish. Wi have lotta people weh only buy for themselves because dehn family eat the ham and turkey still, soh dehn have to tek care ah that but dehn personally want to eat fish. Da eight dollars a pound for the fish, and six dollars, and yoh got fillet right now weh da fifteen here.”
Seafood vendor right outside the Michael Finnegan Market on West Collet Canal, Gilbert Gordon says that some people want other types of seafood for Christmas.
Gilbert Gibson
“Dehn ask fi conchs fi Christmas cause lotta people like mek ceviche. Cause dehn got deh lee fiesta yoh know soh dehn got the ceviche fig oh with it.”
And if you’re one who doesn’t go for swine, well right next to Gibson at the same market is Robert Lightburn, who sells his own home-made hams. He says he has a few alternatives to the pork ham that some people do not eat.
Robert Lightburn
Robert Lightburn, Makes Christmas Hams
“I mek turkey and I mek chicken. Chicken is one of the first class ones. And a chicken is like – well the price gone up now – one time wa chicken da like ten, twelve dollars, now wi got chicken fi like fifteen, eighteen. And ih got the same flavour because ih do eena the same setting like the pig, pork meat. One of the problem I find with people when they order something is that sometimes dehn nuh come back, soh what yoh have to do is if yoh want beef yoh have to mek wa little deposit. I got some order fi some big turkey, like fifteen pounds – cured the same process but that da fi people like Muslims. Anybody weh nuh eat pork, but yoh get the flavor.”
If you do eat pork hams but don’t want a lot of it, Lightburn sells extra small boneless pork hams.
Robert Lightburn
“We know that people nuh have money. Some people could afford a two and a half pound ham, wa – we got ham as small as a pound and a half, which is like thirteen dollars. All these little hams need to do now is to bake.”
There’s something special about the locally-made hams, Lightburn says that sets them apart from imported ones.
Robert Lightburn
“These hams stay in the brine for like two weeks and then we smoke for like eighteen hours, but once they are processed you nuh have to put them in fridge again. It’s the pork leg, nuh the ham weh dehn people di sell – aha dende da picnic, and dehn got – it has a label on there that tells you that when you process it, it’s got twenty percent water that will drain out. Our local ham nuh got that. Ih just got nice, first class seasoning.”
You could also get smoked bits from Lightburn to flavour your beans for three dollars a pound. Marion Ali for News Five.
