Denai Moore Left Jamaica at 10 – Now She's Rediscovering It Through Food

Denai Moore describes herself as an “artist”—she’s not creative in a single discipline; but extends her vision across food and music. A chef specialising in vegan food, and a genre-bending musician whose work blends funk, electro, pop & r&b, Jamaica has always been integral to her work.

She left the island when she was 10 years old, and has since felt a constant longing for the beauty of her Caribbean home. “As a kid, you have a yearning for new things; but I didn’t know what I was going to miss out on,” she reflects. “Sometimes you just want a really good mango.”

"I really loved the shirt on the motorcycle"

Jamaica — "I really loved the shirt on the motorcycle"

"Jamaica is so abundant with these hues of green"

As she gets older, the 31-year-old has a more persistent desire to go back to Jamaica, and is following her urge to spend more time there. Food is integral to her journey—this time, she was working as a chef in residence at Jamaica Inn, which was a rewarding experience—shopping seasonally in local markets,

“The produce is so much more delicious. Chilis are more spicy— you’ll never make a jerk as good in London based on ingredients alone”

Below she shares more images of her trip and the stories behind the pictures she captured.

The Pudding Man:

"In Jamaica you have this sticky delicious treat called pudding. This is the traditional way of making it, you create a warm coal oven—so underneath and on top of the Dutch pot. This stop is the Pudding Man—he makes the best in the country. He's got sweet potato pudding, they're naturally vegan—coconut milk, cornflour, sugar, with a delicious caramelised crust."

Leithe

“I had experiences of being in small remote towns, Jamaica’s filled with beautiful landscapes. Speaking to locals and people that have been there they’re whole lives, they feel like they have it all. Ot was really refreshing being around these kids that just felt, ‘I have everything. A river I swim in, I’m connecting to my village’” she says.

"I made a friend and he took me rafting. He took this photo."

Lethe Jamaica — "I made a friend and he took me rafting. He took this photo."

"Every corner you turn in Jamaica is quite beautiful."

Lethe — "Every corner you turn in Jamaica is quite beautiful."

“It’s touching, I think a lot of people are feeling the lack of balance. I made a conscious effort to stay in places like that and talk to people around me.”

Seasonal Produce

"It felt quite inspiring to be there, trying the ingredients fresh from the vendors."

local market — "It felt quite inspiring to be there, trying the ingredients fresh from the vendors."

"Here the breadfruit are roasting on an open fire."

Breadfruit — "Here the breadfruit are roasting on an open fire."

"Jamaica just has some of the best produce in the world. It was just such a joy to pick ingredients like this. It was just so easy to make delicious food because the produce in itself, raw in its form, tastes so good. It was just really wonderful to cook with such
incredible ingredients."

Jamaica Inn, Ocho Rios

"I'm definitely the kind of person that I would just make the time to watch the sun go down."

Sunset — "I'm definitely the kind of person that I would just make the time to watch the sun go down."

"In Jamaica you get Red Stripe Melon, Sorrell—that's the best one! You can't beat it. You can get it here in the UK, in a few specialist shops, but something about that feels incorrect to me. Somethings are better when you wait."