Jamaican Me Crazy

Last weekend I went to the Camden Market to have a taste (quite literally) of authentic cultures from around the world. The Camden Market is where people open up shop and sell different foods, accessories and even ancient artifacts. However, it was the food from around the world that caught my eyes the most. In the heart of the market near the canal, there were about 30 people from different nationalities serving authentic dishes from their native country. There was the bratwurst from Germany, the Portuguese samosa and the Spanish paella just to name a few.  Everything smelled so good.  

I decided to try the Jamaican jerk wrap, which is chicken seasoned with hot spices combined with a salad. It was like an explosion of flavors in my mouth. The Jamaican man that served me this delicious dish asked me if I was on vacation. I told him that I am student studying British media and international advertising at Regents University. We began to talk about the numerous media outlets in the UK, specifically his favorite newspaper The Voice. It is a weekly newspaper published in London that targets people specifically from the Caribbean.  He told me that there is a fairly abundant population of Jamaicans in the UK and said most of them preferred to read Caribbean targeted newspapers. This was really interesting because I have yet to see any of those publications around the city.

After researching online for a bit, I found out that The Voice is actually the only media outlet that focuses on the British African-Caribbean people in the UK. Looking at the website online, I saw a lot of anti-racism articles that you don’t see in national newspapers such The Times and The Guardian. The Voice has writers from different cultural backgrounds than any of the other newspapers and offers the community a fresh perspective on national and world issues. It’s nice to read about another side of the story.