Store

Rastafari and Ital Foodways

Ital

Religious

⚠ A RELIGIOUS FOODWAY, NOT A DIET TREND, AND NOT UNIFORM. Rastafari emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s, and ITAL — from "vital" — is its food practice: food that is natural, unprocessed and livity-giving. ⚠ WHAT THAT MEANS VARIES BY HOUSE AND BY INDIVIDUAL and this system does not flatten it. Commonly documented: no salt or minimal salt; no pork; often no meat at all; often no canned or chemically treated food; avoidance of alcohol; in some houses no shellfish or scaleless fish. What is eaten: ground provisions, callaloo, ackee, peas and beans, coconut, fruit, ital stew, porridge, and the herbal drinks. ⚠ ITAL HAS SHAPED JAMAICAN VEGETARIAN FOOD GENERALLY and is now sold to people who are not Rastafari — recorded as a religious practice that became an available cuisine.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Rastafari community documented

Languages: Jamaican Patois

What is recorded

  • Ital is recorded as a religious food practice of Rastafari, emerging in Jamaica from the 1930s, and as variable between houses and individuals rather than a single code. Commonly documented elements include avoidance of salt, pork, processed food and alcohol, and frequent but not universal avoidance of all meat. It is not recorded as a uniform diet. documented
  • Rastafari emerges in Jamaica, and with it the ital food practice. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Ethiopian Cuisine documented

    Rastafari orients to Ethiopia; the dietary practice is Jamaican in formation and is not Ethiopian cuisine.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.