Jamaica: Land of Mosquitoes, Machetes and MSG, Part 3

Being the tropics, mosquitoes are a part of life in Jamaica. I didn’t see anything ridiculous in terms of size, but they can be a menace.

Many places will have mosquito nets on the beds to protect you, but you still may get bitten. My daughter, Daisy, had bites all over and seems to have developed a [...]

Why Water Quality Matters

It is clear that drinking water is more beneficial to the body than drinking sodas, coffee, tea and juice, but so few people pay attention to the quality of the water they consume.

Tap water, for example, is filled with harmful contaminants such as chlorine, fluoride and all other sorts of industrial chemical runoff. These contaminants are [...]

Jamaica: Land of Mosquitoes, Machetes and MSG, Part 2

OK. So I’m working backwards here, but who cares?

I knew about violence in Jamaica, but was unprepared for the number of machetes that are in this country! EVERYBODY AND THEIR MOTHER (literally) has a machete! And they use them often. There are practical uses such as slaughtering an animal or chopping coconuts open, but unfortunately, [...]

Jamaica: Land of Mosquitoes, Machetes and MSG, Part 1

This is kinda graphic. So don’t read if you don’t want to know that much about me!

Recently, a reader asked how she can stay healthy while visiting Jamaica. My family is Jamaican, but due to years of civil war, I never had any interest in returning. Then a few years back, my long lost cousin down [...]

Foie Gras: The Truth behind the Delicacy

One food that I was excited (yes, I said excited) to see in St. Martin was foie gras. Foie gras has gotten a lot of bad press over the years because several special interest groups have decided to target this tiny cottage industry over a lack of understanding the anatomy and feeding habits of geese in [...]