Taste Jamaica brings authentic Jamaican flair to WinstonSalem
Mar 21, 2025
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — It's Food Truck Friday, and you know that means that I'll be at a food truck somewhere. I'm in Winston-Salem today with Sonia Beckford, she has the Taste of Jamaica food truck. We're here in the parking lot at Winston-Salem off Peter's Creek Parkway, and Sonia, tell me
about your food truck. How did you get into the food truck business?
"So I've been cooking, ten years old and onward back home. I, you know, have my little business. I do catering, I cook, I cook, for everybody. Come to America, say, let me, you know, see, I start as a caterer in doing catering. And then I decided I really wanted a restaurant, but the restaurant price is so high. So I said, maybe the food truck," she says.
"What are some of the popular menu items that people come up to know that they want to try? And then what do you push on people if they don't know anything about them?"
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"So most people love the jerk chicken. I know they love the oxtail. I know they love the curried chicken and the brown stew chicken also the escovitch fish."
"What is Jamaican food? What is the essence of the food?"
"The flavor, the spice, the taste," Beckford says.
"What do you think I should try?"
"I would say to try jerk chicken."
"What is oxtail?"
"The oxtail is beef. That's that bone in the middle but it's really good. It's stewed down. You can braise it. You can fry it, but we more stew it down."
"So let's go inside and make a plate for me and let me see what this is all about."
"Okay, let's go," Beckford says. "So we have the jerk chicken, a small piece, we have the oxtail, and it comes with rice and peas and stir-fried vegetables, a combination of cabbage, carrots and cucumbers.
"All right. I'm going for the jerk chicken first, Let's just see. This is almost like a no-brainer, though. Let's look at it. Falls right off the bone. Oh, yeah. My skin fell off. I got to get the skin in. Oh, my God. All right, You want to pull a big piece of skin out? That's good. Good flavor. It's a little different. It's a little tangier than what I've had before. I like it. All right, Now that I'm still, I guess I can pick up this piece of bone. All right."
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She doubled me up on the combination with the oxtail and the jerk chicken. I'm a big fan of jerk chicken. I eat jerk chicken if they have it on the menu anywhere. The oxtail is new to me. I've never had anything like that. I would compare it to something like a beef stew that we would make, but with a lot more flavor. I mean, it's fallen off the bone.You don't want to miss the Taste Jamaica food truck if it's in your neighborhood. And I'll let you know on the screen where you can find them, how to get in touch with them and how to see them on the social media channels because you're going to want to find out where they're at.If you want some Jamaican-style food, Taste Jamaica food truck. Wow, that's a Food Truck Friday.
I'm taking my box and to go sit down and eat the rest of it. Chris Weaver, FOX8 News. ...read more read less