The Jamaica Food & Drink Festival (JFDF) is taking KUYAH beyond Jamaica for the first time, bringing four chefs and a taste of the Festival to Brooklyn, New York, on Thursday, September 24.

Hosted in partnership with ALIYA Cocktail Den at Hotel Indigo Williamsburg, KUYAH NY will feature chefs Scotley Innis, Andre Fowles, India Doris and Patrick Simpson, each presenting their own interpretation of Jamaican food.

New York was a natural first stop. The city is home to a large Jamaican and Caribbean community, including diaspora members who travel to Kingston each year for the Jamaica Food & Drink Festival. It is also a city where Caribbean cooking is finding a wider audience, as chefs draw on familiar ingredients and traditions without being bound by them.

“New York has always had a strong connection to Jamaica,” said Co-Festival Director Alicia Bogues. “We have people from the diaspora who come home every year for the Festival. This time, we are bringing a piece of the Festival to them, while giving a wider New York audience the opportunity to experience KUYAH.”

The four chefs represent different corners of contemporary Jamaican cooking.

Andre Fowles is a three-time Chopped champion and author of My Jamaican Table. India Doris, co-owner and executive chef of Markette in New York City, received the 2025 MICHELIN Guide Northeast Cities Young Chef Award. First-generation Jamaican Scotley Innis is co-owner of Continent Brooklyn and ALIYA Cocktail Den and appeared as a guest chef at KUYAH in Jamaica earlier this year. New Jersey-based chef and restaurateur Patrick Simpson completes the line-up, working with Walkerswood, one of the Festival’s longest-standing partners.

Each chef will serve three dishes, with the menu built around the premise that has defined KUYAH in Jamaica: taking Jamaican flavours and ingredients and doing something unexpected with them, “Jamaican food, reimagined.”

“Jamaican food is having an interesting moment,” said Co-Festival Director Nicole Pandohie. “There is a generation of chefs showing just how much range there is in Jamaican cuisine. We want people to come expecting Jamaican food, but not necessarily knowing what form it is going to take.”

That approach will carry through to dessert, where Supligen and Peanut Punch will be used in creations for the evening. Worthy Park Estate will provide the rum, with cocktails served throughout the event, while Walkerswood will feature across the culinary experience.

KUYAH NY will not follow the format of a conventional sit-down dinner. Guests will move between tasting stations, cocktails, desserts and music in an atmosphere intended to feel closer to a Jamaican gathering than a formal dining room.

“You can go anywhere in New York for a great dinner,” Bogues said. “KUYAH has to give you something different. We want you to taste Jamaica, hear Jamaica and feel Jamaica in the room.”

The New York event also serves as an introduction to the wider Jamaica Food & Drink Festival experience in Kingston, where the Festival has worked to position the capital as a destination for travellers interested in exploring Jamaica through its restaurants, chefs, markets, farms and producers.

“KUYAH in New York is the taste,” Pandohie said. “Then we want you to come to Kingston and experience the real thing.”

VM Group has joined the event as a partner, extending its relationship with Jamaicans living overseas.

“KUYAH represents Jamaican excellence, entrepreneurship, culture and connection,” said Leighton Smith, Group Chief Diaspora Markets Officer. “New York is home to a significant Jamaican and Caribbean community, and this gives us another way to connect with Jamaicans overseas while celebrating the creativity coming out of Jamaica.”

KUYAH NY is presented with the support of VISA, the Jamaica Tourist Board and VM Group, alongside Worthy Park Estate, Supligen, Walkerswood and Best Dressed Plate. The Jamaica Pegasus Hotel is the accommodation partner for the Jamaica Food & Drink Festival in Kingston.

Approximately 300 guests are expected at KUYAH NY, with organisers reporting strong early interest from the Jamaican and Caribbean diaspora and New York’s wider food community.

KUYAH NY takes place Thursday, September 24, 2026, at ALIYA Cocktail Den, Hotel Indigo Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.