Millennium Victory to host UNIA symposium

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

In keeping with its mandate to promote the intermixing of food with culture, the Montego Bay-based Millennium Victory Vegetarian Restaurant will be hosting the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) Centenary Symposium and Celebration on Sunday, June 8.

The event, which is slated to start at 3 p.m., will feature presentations by president of the UNIA, Steven Golding; chairman of the Marcus Garvey People's Political Party, Horace Mathews; and well-known Garveyite, Sister Nanny.

"We feel privileged to be hosting an event like this at a time like this," said Fitzroy 'Chef Kush' Lawrence, the proprietor of the eatery, which is located on Barnett Street. "We are not just about providing food for the body. We also want to feed the mind with edifying information ... . We are about building the total man."

According to Lawrence, while most Jamaicans are aware of Marcus Garvey as a national hero, for the most part, many are still unaware of what he stood for and the principles by which he lived. He is hoping the symposium and celebration will open the eyes of the uninformed.

"I hope our young people will come out to hear the various speakers, because I am anticipating that they will be presented with information they need to know about our history as a people," he said.

QUALITY OF LIFE

In addition to speakers on Garvey, holistic nutritional counsellor Dr Khensu I-Em-Hotep, founder of the Melanin Clinic, which operates under the principle, 'food is medicine and medicine is food', will be making a presentation on food and healthy lifestyle.

"It is important that we seek to promote an understanding of what we eat, because that will ultimately determine the quality of our lives," said Lawrence. "We will always be looking out for ways to promote health and culture as a part of what we offer here."

Hotep is considered an authority on matters of how to get the body into a state to combat health conditions including cancers; heart, pancreatic, liver, and kidney problems; anaemia; inflammation; poor circulation; chronic constipation; and fibroid tumours, among other lifestyle illnesses.

The event will be complemented by an entertainment package featuring three poets - Ras Views, Ras Takura and Teacher James; reggae singer Major Lloyd, and the Nyahbinghi Drummers.

Millennium Victory Vegetarian Restaurant is a favourite among vegans, Rastafarians and other lovers of natural foods. The dishes are prepared with natural herbs and spices, which complement the cooking skills of Lawrence, who has mastered his skills over 25 years of food preparation.