This article summarizes the rise of farm-to-table cuisine in Jamaica. It profiles Chris and Lisa Binns, who founded Stush in the Bush organic farm on Free Hill. Their operation celebrates Jamaica's culinary heritage by sourcing all ingredients locally. The article describes a tasting at their outdoor room, featuring dishes made from fresh, simple ingredients grown on the farm like avocado soup, fire-grilled pizza with pineapple, and passionfruit chocolate cake. It concludes that Jamaica is experiencing a reinvention of home cooking that shifts focus from resort buffets to dining on locally-sourced island fare.

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JAMAICA’S
THERISEOF
FARM-TO-TABLETRENDBY NIKKI VARGAS
I
t’s mid afternoon in Jamaica and the weather witching
hour is upon us as the once spotless sky shifts
dramatically to stormy weather. I am driving up a dirt
road that precariously wraps itself around Free Hill; it
is the type of steep drive that seems to climb up forever
past lush vegetation, colorful clapboard houses and
barefoot locals languidly sitting on ledges by the side of
the road.
I am headed to an organic farm founded by local, Chris
Binns and his wife, Lisa, whose love of farm-to-table
cuisine and healthy living has earned them a stellar
reputation in the community. Stush in the Bush they call
it–the “stush” a Jamaican word for elegant bordering on
pretentious stands in stark contrast to the “bush”–slang
for rustic and low-key--perfectly summing up the couple
behind the small tasting room at Zionites Farm. Chris
(the Bush) is a Jamaican native and farmer who grew up
on Free Hill; Lisa (the Stush) is a New York transplant
who brings a certain panache and business savvy to what
was once just another farm on the island.
Stush in the Bush is at the forefront of a food movement
in Jamaica—the reinvention of the home cooked meal
and the growth of sustainable and ethical farming. In a
country saturated with tourism and poor replications
of foreign cuisine, this new movement brings food back
to basics and celebrates the island’s natural bounty.
Stush in the Bush—an operation backed and funded by
the European Union—is a prime example of Jamaica’s
culinary heritage with meals made entirely from local
ingredients.
Standing tall in khakis and a button down shirt, with
the classic Rastafarian dreadlocks neatly pulled back,
Chris and his two Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs lead me
around the property. As we walk, it seems every plant,
flower and tree we pass serves both a medicinal and
culinary purpose. Motion sickness? Chris reaches for
ginger. Bug bites? Chris tears off a “Leaf of Life” for me
to rub on my leg. Stress? Chris hands me a fragrant blade
of lemongrass often used in both cooking and teas. We
make our way back to Chris and Lisa’s home—a rustic
cabin that is so harmonious with its surroundings it
looks as though it has sprung up right out of the earth.
Every detail of their home mirrors back the natural
surroundings—from their bed made of large chunks
of cedar trees to decorative wooden bowls filled with
passion fruits.
Stush in the Bush is this perfect blend of rustic and
sophistication (or Rastafarian and chic as the owners
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describe it). The tasting room is surrounded by tropical landscape yet has wine glasses
flown in from New York. The plates are handmade by a local artisan and placed
alongside tinted blue jars with rosemary herbs thoughtfully pouring out of them.
I am sitting in the Stush in the Bush outdoor tasting room with unbeatable views of
the surrounding hills and Caribbean sea beyond. Lisa serves up a chilled avocado
soup with spicy corn muffins, fire grilled pizza with fresh pineapple and a homemade
tomato sauce. Every plate served is simply made—basic ingredients derived from the
land—no chemicals, no preservatives. The dressings, sauces and jams have no more
than three or four fruits or herbs in them, a welcome change from the long list of hard-
to-pronounce ingredients usually seen on food labels back home.
By the time Lisa serves the final dish—a homemade chocolate cake with her signature
passionfruit butter—I am deliriously happy and wonderfully full. The afternoon has
melted into evening and the farm is lit up with strings of white lights casting a warm
glow over the tasting room and their home.
Jamaica’s reinvention of the home cooked meal is a welcome experience as tourism
on the island shifts from standard resort buffets to down-to-earth dining amongst
local islanders. I think back on some of the other meals I’ve had since arriving on the
island—elaborate sushi rolls, complicated Italian recreations, all of them misfires, all of
them paling in comparison to the fresh food of the island, all of them having too much
“stush” and not quite enough “bush.”