Wah Gwaan Food Truck brings taste of classic Jamaican jerk pork and chicken to Pensacola

When Pensacola food truck owner Kobi West went on a self-discovery journey to learn more about his Jamaican roots, he realized his fascination with the country's culture — and its jerk pork and chicken.

"I've always loved Jamaican culture. The food, the whole background of it was really interesting to me. I just wanted to embrace it," West said.

Everywhere he would travel, he would look for a new Jamaican restaurant to test out.

While West was in college in Atlanta studying software development, he sought out a Jamaican restaurant to work in. He uncovered a whole new world of Jamaican culture he hadn't experienced living in the Panhandle.

"The food scene over there is so big, there are so many Jamaican places around there," West said. "I really got to see the festivals they had and the little events where they all got together and cooked food. So, I'd go to a lot of those, I would go out and explore. I met a lot of people. ... It was really energizing to see how much people love it."

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When he reached his goal and graduated, he still wasn't quite ready to give up his passion for Jamaican cooking.

Instead of launching the career he planned on, he decided to take what he learned from the restaurants and open his own venture, which soon became Wah Gwaan Jerk Food Truck. West now co-owns and runs the truck alongside his girlfriend, Thalia Garcia.

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"I finished, I graduated, but I really didn't think software development was really for me," he said. "I had previously learned how to work for the Jamaican restaurant and catering service. So that really interested me to maybe take up something on my own."

The restaurant's name, a Jamaican greeting meaning "what's going on," aims to bring a taste of the Jamaican food community he had experienced in Atlanta to the Panhandle, where Jamaican restaurants are still few and far between.

The two-person team has been rotating their setup locations over the past few weeks and have made Pensacola and Navarre their two main home bases.

Although the couple is new to the food truck game, West is well-seasoned in what it takes to serve Jamaican fare while maintaining the seal of authenticity. It comes down to the details, like the way the jerk chicken or pork is marinated, smoked and grilled, even down to the wood that is being used, which can make a substantial difference in flavor.

"If you want to do it the real, authentic way, it needs to be smoked for a long period of time, using the pimento wood from Jamaica," he said. "The jerk chicken is about 60%, then the other percent is what you're using to smoke."

The more than 13-hour process of making the meat is finished off by a charcoaled grill over Jamaican pimento wood, which West said is extremely difficult to source. However, the pimento wood is essential in giving the jerk meat its signature flavor, due to the allspice flavor of the pimento tree.

Another hard-to-find item is the Jamaican coco bread, which West brings in from a Jamaican baker in Atlanta.

The sweet, fluffy bread serves either as a bun for the meats on his menu or as a side to the signature plates.

West said he also couldn't complete the menu without including meat patties, which dominate the small island of Jamaica.

West also found ways to incorporate the jerk pork and chicken into unique forms, like the jerk tacos and loaded fries. For the plates, customers can choose among rice and peas, plantains, steamed veggies and mac and cheese and other items as their sides.

He said he hopes his truck will help bring something new to the area.

"We have seafood, we have a lot of burgers and tacos. I'm trying to put something different out there," he said. "We just don't have a lot of places that offer something really flavorful. In jerk, it's a lot of flavor, it's a lot of different things combined. ... I just really wanted to bring something like that to the area."

More information on the menu and schedule can be found on the Wah Gwaan Jerk Food Truck Facebook page.