RANKING HIGH

Jamaica’s product offerings have scored twice in qualifying for the UK television programme ' 50 things to do before you die,' signifiying a fact that the island's tourism is capable of satisfying demands in the international marketplace. 

Jamaican Jerk
Jamaican jerk pork and chicken were voted in at number 47, just ahead of traditional British cornish pastries and Scottish haggis.

Television viewers had been asked to vote for the top 50 things everyone should sample in their lifetime, and Jamaican jerk pork and chicken were selected as palette pleasers. ‘Jerk’ refers to the Jamaican method of cooking meat, seasoned with pimento (allspice) over an open fire.
You can samply this smoked roadside delight in the open air as you journey from coast to coast across the island.

Said one voter, Annette Peck, "I love food seasoned with spices. The smell of it cooking makes my mouth water and the warm spicy peppery flavour shines through - it's like sunshine and happy faces. One of my favourites is lime on chicken, the fruitiness and warm peppery taste reminds me of the Caribbean. The first time I ate jerk chicken I liked it so much I rushed out and bought the seasoning to cook it for myself. My husband doesn't like spicy foods very much, so I cut through the intensity of flavours with sour cream," she noted.

The '50 things to eat before you die' list was topped by fresh fish and include some of the usual foods, including lobster, steak, Chinese food, and roast beef. The list also included some very unusual entrants, such as kangaroo, reindeer, guinea pig, alligator and Moreton Bay bugs of Australia, which are salt-water crustaceans that just look like bugs.

The special BBC television programme was hosted by noted television Chef, Ainsley Harriot and shown over the Christmas Season.

‘Swimming with Dolphins’ was also rated as the world’s number one choice of tourist experiences. In a revealing survey conducted by the BBC in 2003, some 20-thousand people who were asked to list ‘Fifty things we really want to do before we die’ singled out ‘Swimming with Dolphins’ as the most appealing pastime.

Other items on the wish list include scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, fly the Concorde to New York, go whale watching, fly a fighter jet, dive with sharks, skydive, fly in a hot balloon, and go on a safari.

The spectacular swimming with dolphin experience is available at Dolphin Cove in Ocho Rios.

Bob Marley
The famous 'One Love Peace Concert' by legendary reggae artiste Bob Marley in Kingston on April 22, 1978, has been named among the world's greatest rock gigs.

The concert placed six on a list of 20 rock performances compiled by United Kingdom television station, Channel 4 and voted on by a panel of some 60 artistes, music journalists, broadcasters and music industry executives.

The Bob Marley concert, which was held at the height of political unrest in Kingston, featured the singer bringing together the hands of then Prime Minister Michael Manley and Opposition Leader Edward Seaga. The concert was held in an effort to quell the political tension at the time.

Bob Marley’s Millennium Album
And, at the start of the New Millennium, it was a remarkable achievement, when Jamaica’s reggae superstar Bob Marley’s ‘Exodus’ album was voted ‘Album of the Century’ by Time News Magazine and the hit single ‘One Love, was voted ‘Song of the Century.

The Milk River Spa water quality is said to be among the most radioactive in the world. The radioactivity of the water is many times greater than many of the world's famous spas. The relative radioactivity of the water has been found to be:

• 9 times as active as Bath, England
• 50 times as active as Vichy, France
• 5 times as active as Karlsbad, Australia
• 54 times as active as Baden, Switzerland