JET Programme Series: Spreading the warmth of the islands for Christmas - Christian Jalim
2023/7/25
JET Programme Series: Spreading the warmth of the islands for Christmas - Christian Jalim
For any Trinbagonian who has lived abroad during, especially around Christmas time, we know how melancholic the time could be because many places just don’t celebrate Christmas with that fervour of a Caribbean household. During my 4 years in Japan, I have been consistent with saying that homesickness doesn’t really affect me as much (mainly because my cure for homesickness is food). However, during Christmas time, food alone isn’t a remedy potent enough for missing the sunshine, warmth of the place and people, laughter, and of course, parang.
Over the years, I usually hosted small dinners with close friends in my tiny apartment. However, for December of 2022, not only did I want to open up the opportunity to share Trini Christmas with more of my colleagues within the Chuyo region of Ehime, I also wanted other JETs to share their culture as well. Hence, my co-Regional Advisor and I concocted a plan to rent a cooking room in Matsuyama City and host a Christmas cooking party where everyone from various corners of the globe on this JET journey can congregate, enjoy good company, cook a meal (or lend a hand if cooking isn’t their forte), and just have a good time.
As every chef of the family knows, no Trini kitchen is complete without that treasured green seasoning. Unfortunately, Matsuyama City is no Tokyo, so ingredients for that staple of the kitchen are not very easy to come by. Nevertheless, being the foodies that we are, Apphia Pereira (my fellow Trinidadian JET who arrived to Ehime the same time with me) and I have both experimented and shared recipes with each other to get that green seasoning just in the right spot. It’s a recipe that would make the older heads of our families smile with pride to see what we created with what limited resources we have.
For the Christmas party, I was delightfully joined by Apphia who made the trek for about 3 hours from what our families would call “quito quito”. We walked for about 15 minutes from my apartment to the cooking centre, rolling a suitcase (yes, a suitcase) with all of our necessary ingredients which of course turned heads as well as incited surprised responses and comments from fellow participants.
It was definitely a collaborative effort from the Trinbagonians in the room as we served up mouthwatering dishes common to the Caribbean table for Christmas time which included; callaloo (no dasheen bush but spinach works just as well), curry-stewed chicken (thanks mom for the Trini curry powder), macaroni pie, festive rice (or Christmas fried rice), and we had to make the best of the tiny ham we could get our hands on in Japan. However, Trinidad and Tobago was not the only focus on the plates as we also had a large presence from the Filipino community providing dishes like lumpia, maja blanca, pasta, amongst others. Amidst all of the shuffling in the kitchen, Joselle (a Trinidadian living in Matsuyama at the time) shouted, “na! We need some parang!” Thus, we had the sweet music of parang echoing through the room to further liven the mood and really reinforce that Christmas feeling that we are used to leading some of us to of course do that ritualistic dance by the stove as our mood aligned to the Caribbean Christmas spirit.
At the end of it all, we had a unanimous positive response from the participants of the event for not only sharing delicious food, but also the spirit and warmth of Christmas to help fellow JETs feel less homesick during this time. I have had so many responses of gratitude and appreciation. Christmas can be a despondent time for many of us abroad, but I highly encourage you to try and explore ways to emulate the spirit of Christmas to the best of your ability and you may find that while it may not be the same, you may get close and that alone is good enough to help not only yourself but someone who may need that Christmas spirit away from home.
JET Programme Series: Spreading the warmth of the islands for Christmas (Japanese Embassy Facebook)
JET Programme Series Archives
Over the years, I usually hosted small dinners with close friends in my tiny apartment. However, for December of 2022, not only did I want to open up the opportunity to share Trini Christmas with more of my colleagues within the Chuyo region of Ehime, I also wanted other JETs to share their culture as well. Hence, my co-Regional Advisor and I concocted a plan to rent a cooking room in Matsuyama City and host a Christmas cooking party where everyone from various corners of the globe on this JET journey can congregate, enjoy good company, cook a meal (or lend a hand if cooking isn’t their forte), and just have a good time.
As every chef of the family knows, no Trini kitchen is complete without that treasured green seasoning. Unfortunately, Matsuyama City is no Tokyo, so ingredients for that staple of the kitchen are not very easy to come by. Nevertheless, being the foodies that we are, Apphia Pereira (my fellow Trinidadian JET who arrived to Ehime the same time with me) and I have both experimented and shared recipes with each other to get that green seasoning just in the right spot. It’s a recipe that would make the older heads of our families smile with pride to see what we created with what limited resources we have.
For the Christmas party, I was delightfully joined by Apphia who made the trek for about 3 hours from what our families would call “quito quito”. We walked for about 15 minutes from my apartment to the cooking centre, rolling a suitcase (yes, a suitcase) with all of our necessary ingredients which of course turned heads as well as incited surprised responses and comments from fellow participants.
It was definitely a collaborative effort from the Trinbagonians in the room as we served up mouthwatering dishes common to the Caribbean table for Christmas time which included; callaloo (no dasheen bush but spinach works just as well), curry-stewed chicken (thanks mom for the Trini curry powder), macaroni pie, festive rice (or Christmas fried rice), and we had to make the best of the tiny ham we could get our hands on in Japan. However, Trinidad and Tobago was not the only focus on the plates as we also had a large presence from the Filipino community providing dishes like lumpia, maja blanca, pasta, amongst others. Amidst all of the shuffling in the kitchen, Joselle (a Trinidadian living in Matsuyama at the time) shouted, “na! We need some parang!” Thus, we had the sweet music of parang echoing through the room to further liven the mood and really reinforce that Christmas feeling that we are used to leading some of us to of course do that ritualistic dance by the stove as our mood aligned to the Caribbean Christmas spirit.
At the end of it all, we had a unanimous positive response from the participants of the event for not only sharing delicious food, but also the spirit and warmth of Christmas to help fellow JETs feel less homesick during this time. I have had so many responses of gratitude and appreciation. Christmas can be a despondent time for many of us abroad, but I highly encourage you to try and explore ways to emulate the spirit of Christmas to the best of your ability and you may find that while it may not be the same, you may get close and that alone is good enough to help not only yourself but someone who may need that Christmas spirit away from home.
JET Programme Series: Spreading the warmth of the islands for Christmas (Japanese Embassy Facebook)
JET Programme Series Archives