Iron, Lion…Zion? Our Featured Staff: Jemer

Not the Bob Marley song. But our own star of culinary roots – Jemer. July saw Dominica’s Iron Chef competition, where contestants are given a mystery basket of ingredients, and 15 minutes to decide what to cook. They then have 20 minutes to put together an appetizer and main course. Among the ingredients was Lionfish –  an invasive species with no known predators, that only reached our island’s waters in 2011, and is already threatening our own reef fish.  Jemer’s imaginative flair saw off the competition, her dishes of a Farmers Market Medley for appetizer, followed by Vegetable Couscous with Herb Sautee Lionfish taking first prize, and proving that if Jemer’s doing the cooking, Lionfish could soon find itself with rather more predators. Especially as according to Gemer, “Lionfish is one of the best tasting fish and is simple to prepare”. We think she might be being a little modest about her abilities.