“Spicy peppers, hot sauce— even seasonings, period, are commonly associated with black culture, but the scotch bonnet has a special place in every Jamaican’s heart— as well as their history.

The Taino, a subgroup of the Arawak, traveled over from the Orinoco River Valley, located in present day Venezuela, to Xamayca (Jamaica) on big canoes. They brought with them a variety of staples, among them were scotch bonnets and barabicu— their traditional style of cooking over an open pit fire.

The Taino lived in harmony until the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1494, who enslaved, tortured, and decimated their population. When the Taino genocide was complete, Spain began importing enslaved people from Africa to replenish their labor force. By 1655, Spain surrendered Xamayca over to the British, freeing their slaves in the process. These freed slaves took shelter in the wild and mostly unsettled central terrain of the island, and became known as maroons. The maroons survived alongside the last of the Taino, the remaining people who managed to escape the Spanish into the mountains years before and had gone largely unnoticed by them ever since. They learned the Taino way of cooking, seasoning, and preparing food found on the island— and thus the tradition of ‘jerk,’ seasoning meat with scotch bonnets and other spices and then cooking it in a barbecue was born.

The scotch bonnet is a symbol of my connection to my identity, my culture, and my family history. My father, a Jamaican chef, taught me an appreciation and also a deep respect for this hot pepper. I learned how to cook with it, but was also punished for talking back with it. I learned to be proud to be able to endure it’s heat, even with tears running down my face. In our house, the scotch bonnet is a symbol of tradition and resilience, handed down to me by my family, and to them by a people who’s culture endures even beyond their genocide at the hands of white colonialism. It’s a symbol of endurance and strength— a connection to both past and present."