Carry On Friends: The Caribbean American Experience
Carry On Friends has an unmistakable Caribbean-American essence. Hosted by the dynamic and engaging Kerry-Ann Reid-Brown, the podcast takes listeners on a global journey, deeply rooted in Caribbean culture. It serves as a melting pot of inspiring stories, light-hearted anecdotes, and stimulating perspectives that provoke thought and initiate conversations.
The podcast invites guests who enrich the narrative with their unique experiences and insights into Caribbean culture and identity. With an array of topics covered - from lifestyle and wellness to travel, entertainment, career, and entrepreneurship - it encapsulates the diverse facets of the Caribbean American experience. Catering to an international audience, Carry On Friends effectively bridges cultural gaps, uniting listeners under a shared love and appreciation for Caribbean culture.
Carry On Friends: The Caribbean American Experience
Caribbean Adjacent: Love, Culture & Olive Oil | Meet Tiffany & Jorge
Welcome to back to another episode of Caribbean Adjacent, a series within the Carry On Friends Podcast!
Tiffany Cohen is back on the podcast and this time she is with her husband Jorge. They are dynamic husband-and-wife duo behind Flor de la Jara, an olive oil brand rooted in generations of Spanish farming and powered by cross-cultural connection.
In this episode, they shared their airport meet-cute (yes, another one!), Jamaican-Spanish fusion cooking, raising a trilingual son, and building a legacy together. From curry chicken with a Spanish twist to navigating language mix-ups, this is a joyful celebration of culture, family, and flavor.
Connect with Tiffany & Jorge: Flor de la Jara - Website | Instagram
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A Breadfruit Media Production
Hello everyone, welcome back to another episode of Carry On Friends and our special series, caribbean Adjacent, and I'm excited to have Tiffany and Jorge on the podcast. So now, if you have just been rocking with Carry On Friends, you may have missed Tiffany's episode that we recorded last year. So Tiffany is of Jamaican heritage and she came on the podcast to talk about this business she had with her husband. She has, because it's not past tense, they still have the business with her husband, jorge, and it's an olive oil business. It's Flor de la Jara. Did I get it right?
Speaker 3:Got it right, perfectly fine Yay.
Speaker 1:Welcome Tiffany and Jorge. How are you?
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 3:Well, thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:And other fun fact. I met them in person last year at my friend's event, black Men's Health Festival, and it was great to see them, both with their son. So you know I love when I get to meet the guests in real life and not just in virtual life. You know I'm excited to have this conversation. So when I was thinking through the series, I had a list of names that I knew I wanted to connect with, and both of you are on the top of the list. So let's back up a little bit. Why don't we tell the audience a little bit about the work that you both do through the business?
Speaker 3:Well, so, like you said, we actually founded an olive oil brand here in the States. It's called Floralajara, but it actually originates from Spain, because Jorge's family has been making olive oil in their family land for three generations, and then we decided to bring it here to the States. So it's something that we've created together and we we love it. We love being able to work together and we love also being able to create something for the future, and then something that also incorporates both families and both like heritages and cultures.
Speaker 2:So far. It's been a long um. I mean a lot of fun so far, and it's been great to work with you, by the way, thank you I would hope so, you know, because you know when, when we're done, you still have to go home all right.
Speaker 1:so or hey, I already told you you're the one that's mostly going to be on the hot seat. I have some questions for Tiffany, but it's all about you, so my first question for you is how did you first meet Tiffany and what was your initial impression of her cultural background?
Speaker 2:Well, it's a very funny story, because we met at the airport in Madrid and basically, when I saw her, I said wow, she's so beautiful, I'm going to sit down close to her. But you know, I was like a kind of blog. I couldn't say anything to her, I was just sitting in front of her.
Speaker 3:You know like which I will just say is very funny. I you know like.
Speaker 2:I will just say it's very funny. I couldn't say anything, I got blocked.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because he's usually a lot more outgoing than I am. I'm outgoing, but he's a lot more outgoing as well. So the fact that he wasn't like saying anything now that I know on this other side is pretty funny.
Speaker 2:But yeah, and then we started talking. She basically she was the first one who said something. She basically she was the first one who said something. And, of course, in the moment she opened the door I was like all the way Okay. So okay, can I sit down right there with you and we start talking right away.
Speaker 1:Tiffany. So I need to understand and then I'll put another correlation. You saw him sitting there and he's like what? Why look like him? I want to talk Like tell me what you said. What did you say?
Speaker 3:I'm going to tell you what it was like. So I, I was there already and then he came down, like he said, and sat in front of me and I saw him because he was literally right in front of me and I was looking at him and I was like huh, then his eyes were catching mine, like our eyes were catching, for a little bit, and then I said, oh, you know, I was like maybe I should say something and in my mind I had this whole conversation like well, what would you say? I was like you don't even know if he speaks English, all of these things that you think about, right, and then it's like all of a sudden, like the word said hello, what's your name? And I almost was like who said that? Because I was like I never say anything to people Usually, I usually don't, so it was just like it just came. You know, I was like it's almost like a divine adventure. It just came out like surprisingly to me too.
Speaker 1:You both are the second guests who've come on this series and talked about meeting at the airport. I'm not going to say that that's the place to meet, but I'm going to see if it's a pattern. Okay, that is so interesting, all right. So, jorge, what's one aspect of Caribbean culture, jamaican culture, that has surprised you the most when you first encountered it?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm surprised I have been by the fact that we have a lot of things in common. It surprised me a lot. So Spaniards are Jamaican. We have more things in common than we think and for me it was like so easy to get used to the Jamaican culture and I feel myself already half Jamaican.
Speaker 3:I don't know how to explain.
Speaker 2:But I don't feel I go there and I see like, okay, let's go to our country.
Speaker 2:And I see myself in the airport like okay, I feel like local already and we are trying to incorporate that in our, in our son, because I think that he's very rich to to incorporate at the roots of your parents in your life. So we are trying to do that with nicolas nicolas right now. Sometimes you can find him in the middle of the corridor speaking in patois he's so funny. And right after the corridor speaking in Patua, he's so funny, and right after he's talking in Spanish. And he so emerged in the culture, in both cultures Spanish and Jamaican that I love it Because he's like he was born in the United States, in New York, but he has the three of the cultures together that I think that enrich your life a lot and we are making sure that he's basically into three of the cultures at the same time and we are not aware, but it's so easy for him.
Speaker 2:It's like we are not doing almost any effort. It's just so natural on him as is on me. I don't know if it makes sense.
Speaker 1:No, it does, and I mean living in New York also kind of helps with that as well. You know there's the cultural immersion in New York. So I want to go back to what you had in common Name, something that you know was like wow, this feels like what we do in Spain. What's one thing from the Jamaican culture that you're like, yeah, we have this in common, what we do in Spain. What's one thing from the Jamaican culture that you're like, yeah, we have this in common?
Speaker 2:One specific thing that we have in common is like we work to live. We don't live to work. That's super. That's something that we have in common, jamaicans and Spaniards. So we are not focused our life into work, work, work, work. We are not focused. We work because we have to live. You know what I'm saying, and we enjoy life to the full. So that's that's like, that you can feel in the people that we have that kind of like, a same kind of vibes, like, uh, in a different, in a different atmosphere, but same kind of by like you, you are in love with life, you, you, you enjoy living, you, you are so, you are smiling, you are enjoying, you are having fun. You know what I'm saying and I feel that way with my loves.
Speaker 3:It was like love at first time with her.
Speaker 2:I love her at first time with my love.
Speaker 1:So for everyone listening, you know the. You know what they said. Long story short, we love party. So both of you have this. You know olive oil brand. It has to do with food and everything. I know. You know, Tiffany, the last time we spoke, you know you talked about how his mom you would, you know, take a spoonful of the olive oil and remind us of the seven seeds cod liver oil. That's correct. So talk to me about how you experiment with Jamaican and Spanish cuisine, and I mean, we use Spanish loosely, but Spanish as in Spaniard cuisine, right? And do you have any fusion dishes? That's a favorite in your household?
Speaker 2:Oh, definitely. We have a couple of them that are like a superstar in this home, and it's basically. One of them is like I prepare curry chicken with curry powder, jamaican curry powder, but with a Spanish twist, using, of course, spanish olive oil. That gives it a special touch, and also with some kind of marination that we do in Spain. Also, we do like the fried dumplings and we fry them. Instead of frying them, perhaps, with butter or with oil, we use olive oil as well, and then, on top of the fried dumplings, I cut very thin slices of Iberian ham and put it on top, and that's delicious. I love it, I love it, I love it. I love cooking and I try always to incorporate different things from different cultures, and especially from Jamaican culture and from Jamaican cuisine. I'm trying to do a lot of experiments. I'm the one who is basically yeah.
Speaker 2:But she's also trying.
Speaker 3:I try. I will say between the two of us he's the better one in the kitchen, for sure. But yeah, we definitely try, like he said, to try and make things together, especially again for our son that we're saying so that he can appreciate both things and both cultures. So, yeah, we definitely try to do that.
Speaker 1:Jorge, we live close right. I want the fried dumpling, but no ham, none of that, just give me the sauce of fried dumpling. All right, I want to taste it.
Speaker 2:I heard you. My brother-in-law says the same. He's from Jamaica as well. He say listen.
Speaker 1:Left the pork.
Speaker 2:But no pork.
Speaker 3:I know.
Speaker 2:So I understand that part. That's funny.
Speaker 1:You know, and to that point right, you know, that's kind of where I enjoy our culture, where we can see like, well, jorge likes pork, but we're not killing for the pork's, just like, okay, cool, just give me a version without, and it's still the energy. And I think the thing about food, too, is just a thing that we all love to gather around. So I'm now curious about are you bringing your son into the kitchen to help with these dishes, and does he have a favorite? Into the kitchen to help with these dishes, and does he have a favorite? Does he Wait? All right, here's the question, is it?
Speaker 2:daddy cook better or grandma cook better. Well, sometimes he say, well, I love how grandma does this dish, but you do it better, or sometimes the opposite. But he's very inclined to the kitchen. He's very inclined to learn how, because when I was like his age I was five years old after coming back from school, the first thing that I was doing it was spending time with my mother and my grandma in the kitchen, learning, and it's how I learned.
Speaker 2:I learned at that time, believe it or not, I was so curious, like, okay, why you put garlic, why you fry the onion, why you poach the, why you put this or why you put that.
Speaker 2:And I was learning at that time, at that time and Nicholas has the same curiosity as me in that sense, and every time I'm cooking that don't put that. I'm coming Let me see how you're doing, can I mix it? Can I do it myself? Why you put this, why you put that, why you put cumin, why you put this, why you put that, why you put cumin, or why you put onion powder, or why you put this, or why you put ginger. And he's so curious and he's into the into learn that I'm I feel so happy and and and I'm I feel, I feel the joy on that, because I think that it's very important to learn how to eat, and to eat well and healthy, but it's also very important to learn how to cook right, right, that's true so the one thing I have to touch on right, or his spanish and jamaican language is a whole different language.
Speaker 1:So, tiffany, all right, I want you to tell me what an incident where there was miscommunication Jorge, spanish and the Jamaican coming and everybody got confused. Was there a moment where there was some misunderstanding because of the different, the way Jorge speaks, the way we speak in Jamaican? Like, tell me if there was ever an incident like that.
Speaker 2:For me at the very beginning. It was a little bit with the accent, same as when they hear my voice with the Spanish accent. It was kind of a little bit confusing. But I remember one day that it was so funny for me. It was very funny when they say, and I was like, wait a second. That was so funny and I'm using it very often when I feel like okay, I will do it, but suncam, suncam.
Speaker 3:That's right. The suncam doesn't mean suncam.
Speaker 1:Oh okay. So I was like yeah, suncam, like suncam could mean anything. Suncam, Exactly, exactly Suncam, don't mean soon come Exactly. All right. So we're going to get into some fun stuff, so all right. So Jamaican culture you know we have food. We can't talk about Jamaican culture, caribbean culture, without the dancing. So, tiffany, first the question for you. You can party. I don't know what was it like taking Jorge to the family session and how did that go?
Speaker 3:it was good it was, it was totally fine and we were just because okay between the two of us. So my sisters, they love to party, party right, and so between the two of us he actually likes to party more than me. So if anything, it would be them trying to say come on Jorge, come on Jorge, and me just kind of like okay, you know, like okay, dragging me along, but he's in there dancing this, that, listening, moving, all of that stuff, all of that are you coming, tiffany, are you coming?
Speaker 2:no, okay, see you later. I'm going with your sisters, yeah yes, all right.
Speaker 1:So tell me about, like the, the most fun party you went to with Tiffany's sister and what's your favorite song in the dance.
Speaker 2:Well, I have a favorite song. I don't necessarily think that is a party song, but it's a song from Beres Hammond. Oh yeah, they're going to talk, they're going to talk.
Speaker 2:And that we were falling in love to each other at that moment and I introduced that song to me and it was so I don't know. Every time I hear that song I feel that I don't know. I feel that those moments where we fell in love, in that moment, where we start to know each other, and you know, and I love that song to pieces, to pieces. And of course there is a lot of party songs that are between the dance hall and also they love soccer as well.
Speaker 2:It's Caribbean, but it's not Jamaican, but they love soccer a lot, and there's a couple of songs that I love. I love that they are for Trinidad. I love Adela for Trinidad. Regards to all the Trinidadians.
Speaker 1:So wait, what's the Soca song? All right, so we get Beres right, and then what's the?
Speaker 2:one.
Speaker 1:Soca song that you like.
Speaker 2:Can you name it? This song is from Desta.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:It's from Desta. The song is like what's the name of the song right now? Lucy, Lucy from Desta. Lucy.
Speaker 3:That's the one that he likes.
Speaker 2:Lucy and Nicholas Love it too yeah. Nicholas Love it too All right, I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it, jorge. Yeah, yeah, all right. So this is one of my favorite questions. If you had to sum up what, being Caribbean adjacent, you know largely Jamaican adjacent. What does this mean for you? What would that mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and for me it means like to be part of the family. I feel part of the family, part of the Caribbean family, part of the Jamaican. I feel I don't feel, as I say, I don't feel a foreigner there. I feel like, yeah, that would be like I'm part of this family, I mean from the first, very first moment. I wouldn't say specifically, one sentence would define it, but I would be that like I feel like part of the family from the very beginning, you both work together, and it's not easy running a business and working together.
Speaker 1:So what advice would you have for anyone? You're from different cultures, merging cultures, and then you're working together. What advice would you give Tiffany Jorge? Any one of you could answer that question.
Speaker 3:So I would say, from, like, the first thing that came to mind was like give each other grace, or just give people grace in general, right. And so I think that that translates in every facet, right? So when you're working together, you know, maybe you know things are not going very well because you want to do this and you want to do this you have to remember that both people, both of you, want the best, for you're both aiming to the same goal, right? Both people want the best, and so, even though it may not come the way you think it does, or vice versa, give each other grace, right, and that's the same thing with culture, right? So maybe we do one thing one way and maybe they do something differently, right? No way is right, no way is wrong, it's just different. And so just give each other the grace to learn the differences, understand them and appreciate them. I think that that goes a long way. And then also, just like in terms of working each other, working with each other, rather, just if everyone, if each person can know that their own strengths and work towards that, so there's not a lot of overlap. I think that that works really well with us, because we're very different in terms of the strengths that we can bring to the olive oil business, our company, essentially, and so that works really well for us.
Speaker 3:I'm not very creative, he's very creative, right, so I'm not ever going to try. I mean I'll try but, like, I'm not very good at anything creative, where I am very kind of like, more rigid in terms of like, oh, I like to fill out forms, I like, like, I like to do things that are very kind of defined. I like to do those things, him not so much. So that works well for us. You know what I mean. So like, so with that, if everybody kind of plays to their strengths, or each person plays to their strengths, and work through those things, combined with the grace, I think that that's really helpful.
Speaker 1:I love it, and so, before I wrap up, I have a last question for you, jorge. What's in your Caribbean adjacent survival kit?
Speaker 2:Oof, let me think about it one second. Let me think about it one second. Let me think about it. Well, I will put some beef patties for sure. I mean, I love beef patties so much. Festivals I love festivals as well and, of course, a bottle of Ryan Nephew. That would be my survival kit, because, listen, that rum has something special. I'm telling you. I don't know what it is.
Speaker 1:Let me tell you something that rum is not just for drinking. I don't know about you, tiffany. When I was growing up, they put it in this bottle, shake it up. They put farty leg beer, rum, all sorts of stuff. I just tap it on you, of course.
Speaker 3:Of course, when you had a cold or a fever or so, rub them. You get rubbed down with it, of course. No, that that is a all an, all doer.
Speaker 2:It does everything and also cocoa butter. Sometimes, when, when I learned that from when nico was like a you know, falling on the floor or something and oh, there's a mark here in the skin, let's use cocoa butter, cocoa butter, cocoa butter, sorry To you know, wrap it and it works, it works. So I would totally include a bar of cocoa butter, for sure.
Speaker 1:Jorge, I just love it because everything that you said is just on point. You get the cocoa butter for Robito.
Speaker 3:But first you have to clean it with the rare nephew.
Speaker 2:It's so good. It's so good, it's true, it's so true.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you both for really coming by and being part of Caribbean Adjacent. You're part of the Carry On Friends family. I'm off soon, or somewhere in Brooklyn, because you don't know. And again wishing you both lots of success. In Flor de la Jara, metella is still that same sexy bottle on the house.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes A wonderful bottle.
Speaker 1:Why don't you tell everybody where they could find you online?
Speaker 3:Sure-A-J-A-R-Acom. You can find us on Amazon as well, and then you can also just see us on Instagram at Florida Lahada Olive Oil underscore olive oil.
Speaker 1:I did say a last question, but you know Jamaican, I lie. Last last question. So when is Jorge having his own cooking show? Because at the rate where he's talking it makes me feel like Jorge is on somebody's TV or cook Well we are doing some.
Speaker 2:there were some chapters that we presented on Instagram, facebook and so on. Like we call it cooking with family, and we do. Sometimes I cook with my in-laws and sometimes she cooks with her in-laws, and we do some special Jamaican dishes. I did with my brother-in-law, for instance.
Speaker 2:we did like a Aki and saltfish, aki and saltfish, and we were cooking together hands-to-hand and it was so much fun and many people liked that recipe and it was kind of impacting many people seeing how we can incorporate the olive oil into Jamaican recipe. That gives a different touch. And actually my brother-in-law since that day he's cooking, he's oaky and selfish with Spanish olive oil, with our olive oil, and he loves it. He loves the touch.
Speaker 1:I mean I was telling you, tiffany, the last time I was here I was like how can we incorporate it? And I mean, there's so many things you know. So when you deal with the callaloo make, with Noah, when you're doing all that just make with Noah, because you already don't know.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:Just let me know and me come by and get me done with the food and thanks.
Speaker 3:Open invitation.
Speaker 2:And also, especially with the oxtail, that we have oxtail in our astronomy. In Spain we have oxtail too. But let me tell you something Since I tried the Jamaican one, it's a wrap. I've heard my favorite Jamaican dish is oxtail.
Speaker 1:There's a reason why it's popular but yeah, just let me know, you know, put out the little e-book cookbook with the things, and just let me know, because, jorge, you're a gear off like I'll try anything in the kitchen and I'm like whoa and I love like whoa and I love festival too, so if you have a good festival, me and my son will be there.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, thank you both and until next time walk good.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much.
