Janice Clarke opened a Jamaican restaurant Elliment in downtown Louisville earlier this year, and it’s already become a gathering spot and resource for Louisville’s Jamaican community.
Last month, Clarke’s native country of Jamaica was devastated by Hurricane Melissa, the strongest recorded hurricane to ever hit the island country. I talked with her about how she came to start the restaurant, and how she is raising money and collecting nonperishable food and new and gently used clothes to send to Jamaica amidst the recovery.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Janice Clarke: I have an authentic Jamaican restaurant located on the corner of Third and Broadway. So if you're looking for oxtail and curry goat and jerk chicken and rice and peas and all the good stuff that is usually Jamaican food, then we have it.
Michelle Tyrene Johnson: Did you always want to be a restaurateur?
JC: I’ve been in the restaurant business all my life. Sometime in 2012, while I was in New York in my basement apartment, this concept came to me for a Jamaican restaurant that could actually be home for me, because at the time, I was missing home, and I wanted the sun and the sea and everything that would make me feel at home. So I sat down and I penned everything that came to my mind. I just tucked it in and went back to my regular 9-to-5.
MTJ: So you're originally from Jamaica.
JC: I am Jamaican, and I spent the greater part of my life in Jamaica. I lived in Orlando for about seven years. I lived in New York, and then my job asked me to move here to Kentucky, and I accepted, and that is how I came here.
MTJ: What made you decide to start your restaurant?
JC: I just felt that the time was right. I've had a plan that was on paper, tucked away somewhere. And that is how I started looking for a place where I could have the restaurant and so forth, and everything slowly fell into place.
MTJ: Have you found a pretty strong Jamaican community here in Louisville?
JC: I have, and that was something that was very new to me. I've lived here since 2020, and I had only met probably one or two other Jamaicans here. So, I did not know at the time that there was a Jamaican community here. But I stepped out in faith, and then when I opened the restaurant, I saw Jamaicans come in, and I couldn't believe that there were so many Jamaicans living here in Louisville.
MTJ: Let's get to the very unfortunate Hurricane Melissa. Do you have loved ones still in Jamaica who have been impacted?
JC: The majority of my family members are living in Jamaica. They are living in the parish that was most hit, which is St. Elizabeth. I didn't know my head from my foot because I could not reach them, and it was, it was a weight that had my heart skipping a beat every five seconds. But I finally heard from them. One of my sisters' roofs came off. Thank God they did not sustain any bodily injuries or anything, and they are on their way to recovering.
MTJ: So what have you done to help raise money?
JC: We are a collection center. So if there are things that you would love to donate to the recovery, then that is something that we would collect: non-perishable food items and new or lightly used clothing.
MTJ: How do you feel when you see the devastation?
JC: You feel helpless. You are not there to help. You don't know some of these people that you're seeing suffering, and so you know you can't reach out and even give an encouraging word. And every single time I put food to my mouth, my belly burns because there is somebody who is hungry.
MTJ: What do you think could be better done to help support Jamaica?
JC: It is the “each one, help one” kind of mentality that is needed. When you buy any meal at my restaurant, there is a donation section where you can give $1, $3 or $5. And it might sound small, but we have a saying in Jamaica, “every mickle mek a muckle,” which means that the small things add up.
