Brittany
Brittany, a Black American Indigenous woman, was born in Lima and raised in Cincinnati. She remembers the little cartons of Jungle Juice sold in the neighborhood corner stores of her childhood. Today, that memory has grown into a personal expression of food, heritage and creativity.
Her connection to Ohio reaches beyond any one city. When asked where she’s from, her answer is simple. “I’m from Ohio.”
Gary
Gary, who is Jamaican and from Los Angeles, brings his culinary traditions and love of cooking to the Jungle Juice kitchen. His cooking shapes the Caribbean side of the menu.
At Jungle Juice, we make food with love, using fresh ingredients, spices and herbs in meals prepared daily for the community.
Acres of diamonds
While living in Los Angeles, Brittany and Gary would walk their daughter, Yasha-Mylan, to school. On the way, they’d stop at a Mexican street vendor for a fresh cup of orange juice.
After the school drop-off, Brittany stopped at a juice bar for a blend she created herself, known today as Rise and Grind. She would take it into the California mountains to meditate and pray. There, she often listened to Acres of Diamonds, the story of an African farmer who sold his property and set out in search of diamonds, only for diamonds to be discovered on the very land he had left behind. Even though Brittany had no intention of returning to Ohio, her home state stood at the front of her mind each time she heard the story.
Coming home
Brittany and Gary moved back to Ohio during the pandemic. They searched the streets of Columbus for meals made with real, fresh ingredients and a juice bar where they could get a cup of fresh-pressed juice. They came home empty-handed.
Brittany thought again of the farmer who crossed distant lands in search of diamonds, unaware of what lay beneath his own feet. Perhaps the ground she had once left behind had been holding a story for her, too. So they opened Jungle Juice Bar and Market. On Oak Street, among baskets of fruit and the scent of spices, the old spirit of the marketplace stirred again. And a piece of Ohio history began at their table.