Sacha Walters, Staff Reporter

Ilrett Wilson, caterer for Irie Foods dicussing how she started her business.

"Food is my life and I love it," says the 63-year-old owner of Irie Foods, caterers of Jamaican cuisine.

Sure enough Ilrett Wilson, a former student of Bybrook Primary in Portland, knows a thing or two about Jamaican cuisine. She learnt her skill from her mother, sister and from working for a number of years as a domestic helper. Her love for food drove her to do it as a business.

She only prepares Jamaican dishes, something which is influenced by her religion as a rastafarian, at her 2 Greendale Crescent address in Valentine Gardens, St. Andrew.

"Only when you eat from your own vineyard you are sure of what you're eating," Wilson said.

Run down, ackee and saltfish, curried mutton, toto, rock buns, coconut drops, gizzada, cornmeal pudding, sweet potato pudding and 'blue draw's' are some of her specialities.

She says her religion is not based on a food doctrine so she cooks with salt and has the assistance of two other employees who prepare the pork, beef and other meats that she does not eat.

Wilson focuses not only on Jamaican cuisine but on using fresh local produce to make these dishes.

"The only thing I take imported is the mutton. Those carrot and cabbage that they carry in I don't support it," she said as she believes that the vegetables lose their worth after they have been placed on ice or frozen for a long period.

Her preferred seasonings include scallion, onion, pimento, rosemary, pimento leaves. "Mi nuh badda wid the seasoning salt and all dem pink and purple and yellow and dem thing deh."

One of her major clients is the group Children First located on Monk Street in Spanish Town, St. Catherine. She provides all the food for summer camps and any other events they put on.

Otherwise she does weddings, meetings and other events where her services are required.

It has not always been an easy road for her. She has cooked on the street side and moved to running the cafeteria for the Cultural Development Centre but that failed. When she decided to expand her business financial difficulties hindered her.

"In 2000 I decided to do some pastry so I went to the National Development Foundation of Jamaica to get some loans," Wilson said, however, the treats did not do well as people started watching their weight.

"I found myself coudn't pay back the money," she said. She stopped for a year and did a course in drapery making at Garmex. But the cost of materials hindered her as the stores were producing the same drapes for less money so she went back to cooking and has been doing it since.

While Wilson is now operating her business from where she lives in Kingston she plans to go back to Portland to give back to her community by passing on her cooking and sewing skills to the youth. As for her business she says she hopes to expand by owning a fully stocked building to run her business from.

Left: Some of the food being prepared at Irie Foods.   Right: Breadfruit being roasted at Irie Foods. - Contributed photos