The term Rastafarian invokes a whole lot of cultural associations - primarily reggae, dreads and those baggy tri-colored hats - but ‘natural eating’ likely isn’t one of them. Yet the Ital (pronounced ‘eye-tal’, as in ‘eye-talian’) diet is as important to the traditional Rasta lifestyle as the famous ganja use or Babylon and Zion, its focus on fresh, basic ingredients exemplifying the movement’s back-to-the-land approach. Impressively forward thinking, the group’s original 1930s regimen prized purity over processed ingredients: substituting sea for table salt, fresh produce for canned, eliminating dried, pickled or otherwise preserved foods. This doubled as a rejection of the Western values early proponents saw as corroding traditional Jamaican culture, and jibes with the religion’s separatist bent, heavily inspired by Marcus Garvey’s Pan-African philosophy. Early Rastas sought to slough off the shackles of a colonial system by looking toward role models other than their reviled British overlords, landing most singularly on Ethiopian king Haile Selassie, who became viewed as a quasi-deity. This meant the rejection of imported convenience products and modern chemicals and a renewed focus on the fruits of their own island - fruit, vegetables and fish - while introducing health foods like tofu and soymilk, which in the early days of the movement were produced by Rastas themselves, befitting their interest in rustic self-sufficiency. The term Ital (the stressing of I is common in Rasta patois, as a shorthand for personal responsibility), comes from snipping the first syllable off the word Vital, and is focused on the increasing of livity (life energy) by avoiding consumption of dead matter, an approach which in its purest form stands pretty close to modern veganism. Ital is a dietary requirement in the Nyabinghi strain of the religion, optional but popular in other sects. Many of its food practices, along with the ceremonial use of ganja crop, were apparently inspired by Indian indentured servants, who were shipped over by the British and ended up heavily influencing modern Caribbean culture. Their culinary footprint may be more noticeable in food from Trinidad or Guyana, but the incorporation of Eastern eating habits helps identify the syncretic nature of Rastafarian theology, which prizes African and Caribbean values while borrowing Asian religious concepts and some inspiration from Jewish dietary codes (shellfish are rejected as scavengers). This foundation leaves a place like Natural Blend - a modest juice bar and bakery located near the Brooklyn Museum - uniquely equipped to withstand the tidal wave of gentrification currently sweeping Prospect and Crown Heights. On a recent Sunday morning the small space was packed with both hungry locals and joggers looking to get their fresh juice fix. While hardline Rastas reject all meat, many opt for a pescatarian lifestyle, with the edict that all fish consumed must be under 13 inches in length, keeping the focus on the lower rungs of the food chain while limiting the scope to locally caught delicacies. In any case, Natural Blend seems less interested in hewing to dietary codes than serving the tastes of Jamaican expats, offering the popular breakfast of ackee, saltfish and breadfruit, accompanied by greens. This complex dish probably deserves its own in-depth examination, but on this occasion I stuck with patties, which here are flatter and less greasy than their beef-filled cousins, stuffed with stewed vegetables, peas, meat substitutes or fish. Rastas may make up less than one percent of the Jamaican population, but the religion’s influence reverberates throughout island culture, and its homegrown approach has long since stretched much further, suffused into the larger legacy of American eating.
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