Faith's Pen - The Jamaican Food Stop

Faith's Pen lay-by

For any Jamaican who travels the main route between Kingston and the resort town of Ocho Rios and the rest of Jamaica's north coast Faith's Pen is a well known rest stop to sample some Jamaican cuisine. Faith's Pen is located along the man road between the rural communities of Mt. Rosser and Moneague and consist of several shops serving up a variety of our local cuisine.

Cow Cod Soup

This lay-by offers the weary traveller a safe place to park, after traversing the winding roads, and take a break to sample some real Jamaican country cooking. The over 20 twenty shops are certainly adequate to satisfy the palate of even the most picky eater as they serve up an abundance of dishes ranging from soups to local proteins and starches. What do they include?

Food vendors preparing several local foods on wood fires and  grill

For starters there are several Jamaican soups ranging from the staple chicken soup and mannish water to the exotic cow cod soup. After belching off the gas with your choice of soup you can feast on jerk pork, jerk chicken, steamed fish, roast fish, roast yam, roast saltfish, roast fish, boiled corn, roast breatfruit, bammy and festival! Thirsty? Well the vendors can certainly quench your thirst with the world renowned Red Strip Beer, an assortment of soft drinks and for those looking for an extra pep some Jamaican roots wine.

Jamaican foods on the pan (local grill)

Faith's Pen is more than just the food though, as the vendors themselves are pretty friendly and you are certainly sure to come across some interesting characters like I did! While eating some food I saw this man, called Gippy by the vendors, sitting proudly by himself on one of the several tables provided for guests at the travel stop. He was more than willing to pose for a few shots and upon seeing this a few of the vendors pointed out another old man who frequent the stop, who they called Cigar Man. He too was pretty willing to pose for the camera. In fact this proved fruitful as the photos of Gippy was selected as one of the top photos in the recent JCDC Festival Visual Arts Jamaica 50 Competition and earned me an award.

Gippy, one of the old men of Faith's Pen

Cigar Man,  one of the old men of Faith's Pen

If you happen to travel the route between the island's north coast and Kingston or Spanish Town be sure to look out for Faith's Pen and sample some real Jamaican country food!