Article by media partner Cuisine Noir, the country’s first Black culinary lifestyle outlet since 2009 dedicated to connecting the African diaspora through food, drink and travel.
Growing up on the East Coast, I never had to look far for Caribbean culture: a Trinidadian eatery serving doubles, a Jamaican restaurant down the street pouring the best sorrel, or a Puerto Rican shop with pastelitos ready at the takeout window.
As a Haitian American, I learned to connect with my roots through food, annual carnivals, and traditions that kept my ancestry close. When I moved to Lisbon, Portugal, last year, that easy access shifted. Caribbean-centered restaurants and cultural staples still exist but finding them requires more effort than it did back in the United States. So, when I arrived at the inaugural Jerk and Wine Festival, I felt something I hadn’t felt in months: at home.
Held last month on July 13 along the beachy coast of Costa da Caparica, the Jerk and Wine Festival brought hundreds of people together around the flavors and rhythms of Jamaica. Grills sent smoke into the coastal air as jerk chicken and pork sizzled awaiting to be paired with Jamaican staples from macaroni pie and sweet plantains to deep-fried bread known as festival.
Local Portuguese wines made from grapes grown just miles away rounded out the spread. More than a food festival, the gathering offered a glimpse into cultural connections that can emerge when the Jamaican diaspora builds community far from home.
Jamaican founders Latoya Hamilton and Nicole Barret created the festival after asking a simple question: “Why didn’t they see more Caribbeans gathering around them in Lisbon?” Their conversations soon led to a deeper realization about the relationship between the two countries.
“The more we talked about it, the more we realized that Portugal and Jamaica have so much in common. They may be on opposite sides of the world, but there’s something about the soul of both places that feels incredibly similar,” shares the founders in a joint interview.
When I first met Hamilton and Barret, ironically at a Jamaican brunch hosted by one of the few Caribbean restaurants in the region, Rum and Tickles founded by Kelvin Sang, the pair already seemed inseparable. Their friendship, however, had only recently begun. The two met after moving to Portugal and soon discovering an unlikely connection: they had attended the same high school in Jamaica but had never crossed paths.
Hamilton first visited Portugal in 2022. By the time she returned to the United States, she had already decided to move, booking a visa appointment days after her trip. Barret on the other hand first visited the country a decade earlier and established roots there shortly after.
“I was ready to embrace a slower pace and what I like to call the second phase of my life, a chapter focused on building community, creating meaningful experiences, and living a little more intentionally,” says Hamilton. She spent much of her career in New York City leading large-scale marketing initiatives and bringing ideas to life through events, marketing, and project leadership.
“Living in and exploring Portugal felt like a natural extension of the work I’d already been doing for more than 20 years in the travel and hospitality industry,” says Barret. Her career has taken her across tourism boards, hotels, and destinations around the world. These days, she spends much of her time exploring the country’s vineyards and has even earned her level 2 WSET certification.
Together, their backgrounds in events, hospitality, travel, and wine provided the ingredients for what came next. “When we decided to create the Jerk and Wine Festival, it felt less like a business idea and more like something that grew naturally from something we both loved,” the duo says.
By Ashia Aubourg
