Words by Jesse Serwer, via the Jamaica Observer
If you’ve been to England recently and were surprised to find Jamaican-style jerk sauce on your table at the pub or prominently displayed at the supermarket, credit Levi Roots. A native of Clarendon, the reggae artist-turned-entrepreneur starred on season four of the entrepreneurial reality show Dragon’s Den a few years back, turning a sauce he had been selling at the Notting Hill Carnival for years into the phenomenon that is Reggae Reggae Sauce. Roots, who was once nominated for a MOBO Award and has a catalog dating back to 1981’s “Poor Man Story,” became an overnight celebrity in England thanks to a sales pitch that included his “Reggae Reggae Sauce” theme song. In the years since, he’s released his own cookbook and hosted the BBC2 cooking series Caribbean Food Made Easy; Reggae Reggae Sauce meanwhile has turned up everywhere from Sainsburys to a sandwich at Subway. Last week, Roots traveled to Kingston to launch the brand, which has evolved into a line of foods including potato chips and ginger beer, in Jamaica. As Roots put it, “If it nuh buss a Jamaica, it nuh really buss.”