- Then they go real fast, hah ah,
and then he do it.
Hey friends, it's Karamo from Netflix's Queer Eye.
- And I'm his son, Jason Brown,
also known as Rachel side burns.
- And today, we are cooking a traditional Jamaican dish
called Ackee and Saltfish, with a side of Bammy.
It's a Jamaican dish.
- Yeah, man.
- Get your tummy right and nice.
So what I love about ackee and saltfish
is that it reminds me of home.
So I just remember my grandmother and my grandfather
cooking ackee and saltfish on Sunday mornings
and then cutting up the bammy.
And just like all of the family coming together
and us just eating traditional Jamaican dishes.
I mean in my household, my father actually used cooking
as a way to bond with me.
And it's also a way that I use to bond with my son.
- [Jason] I'll be honest, early on we were
very much hands on in the kitchen.
My dad used to embed in my head
that I need to know how to cook as a man.
So he taught me how to cook chicken, rice,
spaghetti, pastas, all the things
(laughter).
- I'm just saying, all right.
Men cook, women cook, everyone should be cooking.
It's a great way to talk, try new things,
to be curious about life.
And that's what I love about food.
All right, so the thing is about Jason and I,
is that when you cook,
sometimes you gotta take a little dance break.
It starts with the hands.
(snapping)
You gotta come in, you gotta come in closer!
Eh! Eh! Ehhh!
Then you go real fast, huh ah,
and then he do it, okay!
Then you ed nah, now we dance ah.
All right now back to cooking.
So right now the bammy looks really plain.
And that's why we're gonna be adding in coconut milk
which gives it a really robust, sweet flavor
that just is so, mmm!
You can't wait to bite into it.
It actually balances out all the rich flavors
of the ackee and the vegetables.
So you know for me Pride month is a
very important, special month
because it's where I started to find
the confidence in myself as a gay man.
And then as I had a son,
it was really important for him to understand that
it was great for you to be a part of the community
to see the strength and the beauty of the LGBTQI community.
Because I think a lot of times parents are afraid
to introduce their children to
their community, their surroundings.
But I think it helps them to grow and be better.
- [Jason] For me Pride definitely is one of the best times
that I've ever possibly had in the summertime.
You know we live it up, we honestly have a good time,
and we celebrate the pride that we all have,
for the community.
- [Karamo] So this is where you start
to break up the saltfish.
But you know what, real cooks, we use our hands.
Get rid of the forks, just get your hands in there.
That's what real cooks do.
Just start griming it up,
you start to feel the texture of the fish,
you start to feel like you're infused with the food.
- [Jason] And this is my favorite part actually,
when we're stirring in the red peppers,
the green peppers, the onions, the ackee,
everything looks so beautiful right now.
- [Karamo] See this is the part about Jamaican dishes
that I love is that they incorporate so many fresh
vegetables that you get to see the color
and it smells so fragrant,
I mean just whiff that in son, whiff it in.
You smell it?
Right, smells good.
- [Jason] Mmm! - [Karamo] I know.
SO Jason and I have a brand new book coming out
called I am Perfectly Designed.
This book is a children's book, it's a picture book,
but it's also for adults because as we know
whether you're two, 20 or 220,
I don't know anybody that age but I was trying
to figure out how to go in sequence,
we all have issues with our self esteem
where we're like "I don't feel good about myself today,
"I feel like someone's better than me"
or you start comparing yourself,
and this book is to teach all of us,
and remind all of us that we are perfectly designed.
- [Jason] Basically, it just always taught me
to be myself, you know and that's kind of the main point
of this whole book,
just for everybody to know that themselves,
naturally is perfect.
- [Karamo] We have everything we need friends
to create the life we want,
you just gotta believe in yourself.
- It's all in you.
(laughter)
- [Karamo] You ready to try the dish?
- [Jason] I am so ready, so
are you, oh you just went straight in for it, okay.
- Yeah, it's so delicious.
You have no idea.
You can taste every bit of the ackee,
you can taste sah fish, salt fish if you're an American,
the sah fish if you're Jamaican.
As my son continues to eat,
I just want to remind everyone
to check out our brand new book
I am Perfectly Designed,
coming out in the fall.
And also I want to encourage everyone
to try different foods from different cultures.
Be curious, there's so many things out there
that you're just going to love to try
but you gotta be curious enough to go after it.
Start with this dish,
start with something new during Pride month,
trust me you will not be disappointed.
Happy Pride friends.
- Happy Pride.
- Ohh, yes.
(gentle music)