Chef April Infuses Kampala with Bold Jamaican Tastes and Heritage

April Charlotte, known as Chef April, has captured Kampala’s food scene with her dynamic Jamaican flavors. Raised in Great Britain but deeply rooted in Caribbean heritage, she embodies the bold energy of Jamaicans. “You feel us before you see us,” she says, highlighting their unforgettable presence.

For Chef April, cooking goes beyond recipes—it’s a vessel for identity. Food preserves history where language or traditions may fade. She points to Jamaica’s rice and peas, strikingly similar to West Africa’s waakye, underscoring deep African connections. “The Caribbean is part of Africa,” she notes, evident in shared cooking rituals and seasonings.

A poignant tale is the ackee fruit, Jamaica’s national symbol carried across the Atlantic by enslaved Africans as acts of defiance. In Ghana, she saw the trees ignored, yet in Jamaica, it defines dishes like ackee and saltfish—symbols of memory and resilience. Her dishes demand patience: meats marinated for days, flavors built with love and ritual.

At The Singleton Chef’s Table, she headlined with a celebration menu of wedding and family dishes, featuring spice-laden curry goat and rice and peas. Her goal? Evoke emotions, not just fill plates. Self-taught and guided by ancestors, she pairs savory mains with Jamaican desserts.

Chef April admires Uganda’s fertile soils yielding vanilla, cocoa, and coffee. She fuses local gonja with Caribbean spices, pushing beyond stereotypes like jerk chicken to reveal influences from Africa, India, and China. Jamaican jerk, she explains, originated to conceal scents of escaping slaves.

Her visit reminds Ugandans that everyday ingredients hold profound stories of pride and history, much like celebrated global cuisines.

Source: Daily Monitor (Uganda)