An Almost Jamaican Christmas Story

While doing some rigorous window shopping over the weekend with the family, we all decided to take a break and grab some Mexican food. We walked into a cute little Mexican restaurant that we had noticed while on our visual shopping spree.

While everybody was deciding on Burritos or Tacos, my eyes caught a delicious looking red beverage bubbling away in the shiny juice machine sitting beside the cash register. Something about this drink looked so familiar to me. I knew right away that it was not just your average generic fruit punch. Its texture was too glossy and robust looking. I turned to my honey and said excitedly “That looks just like Sorrel!”

I questioned the lady behind the counter about what the juice was, and she proceeded to tell me proudly in her heavy Spanish accent that it was from a plant that only grows in Mexico. She poured me a little sample while explaining that it was good for your blood. I sipped the tart and very unmistakable flavor of Sorrel, and told her that the beverage was a traditional Christmas drink in my country and that my people called it Sorrel.

She frowned at me in disbelief and argued with me that the drink was strictly Mexican. Not convinced, I asked the lady what they called the beverage in Mexico. I burst out laughing as she condescendingly pronounced and spelled out the name slowly to my poor ignorant ears.

“HA-MY-KA…J-A-M-A-I-C-A.

Susan Andrea Warmington