Jamaica is known for their beautiful tropical climate. It is a tourist hot spot; basically all months of the year. When coming to the islands, the tourists want to see a change in scenery and in culture. They are sick of the same old routine. They need to experience something different from their own. They get a sort of cabin fever with their current surroundings. The pri-tourist may feel like their only escape from their claustrophobic feelings is to flee to another country.
What tourist don’t know is that the food they thought was authentic……is from America. Yes, Americans have been sending Jamaicans food for a while now. The farmers themselves actually don’t do any farming for their business. Most of the food that has been consumed from the tourists was from America; even exports out of Jamaica were once imported from America and other countries. For instance, there was a dairy farmer on the island. His business was very efficient and he produced a lot of milk. For one reason or another, Americans decided to export powered milk to replace the actual milk from the cows. This left the dairy farmers devastated. Over the course of a week, they had to empty the milk cylinders because they were getting too full. There is a scene of a man opening the valve which lets all the milk out into the yard behind the building. This signifies all of the hard work being put into the milking business washed down the drain. It also signifies America becoming a bit of a bully; not intentionally, but the US was only trying to help Jamaica’s economy.
There is an interview with a native on the island that gives the viewers insight on how Jamaica’s population feels. He makes several good points; one being that if everyone left Jamaica alone, they could bring up their economy by their selves. The only thing that help does for them is temporary relief. Each time someone tries to help them, they fall more into debt. Jamaica is billions of dollars in debt, and it only gets worse. They basically owe everyone money and they aren’t paying them off very fast. Even though the tourist season is a steady income, it could be better. All the meals for the tourist should be made from the Jamaicans to be considered authentic, but it’s not. I would like to get a taste of their real culture rather than the Americanized culture that exists today
When they have to resort to using other resources from their own, they also lose a piece of who they are as Jamaicans. They become less respected because they aren’t living their life like the tourists want them to. When the tourists go on vacation, they want confirmation on their vision of the exotic. They don’t want to see these fascinating people making milk out of powder from the US. They want to see new and exciting methods of living that the Jamaicans have been doing since the people arrived on the island.