Caribbean Food

The sea, sun and sand make the Caribbean a popular tourist destination. But aside from the beautiful weather, the amazing landscape and the total Caribbean experience, Caribbean food is unique and appetizing. There is just something about that great spicy Caribbean flavor!

Caribbean food is not like food from any other part of the world. The Italians have their pasta, the French their pastries, wine and rich cuisines, the English their ‘bangers and mash’ and China has its egg rolls, but the Caribbean has its own unique spicy Island taste that many people appreciate. A lot of Caribbean food involves highly spiced cuisine that titillates the tongue and palate.

The Caribbean consists of many islands that each have their own specialties. Central America, with Mexico, Costa Rico, and Panama can also be considered part of the Caribbean, at least when it comes to tourism and cooking, because they have coasts that border on the Caribbean Sea. Central America, because of its connection with North and South America, has its own style of food as well.

Many popular Caribbean food dishes involve ‘hot’ spices and ingredients, often in the form of curry and hot peppers. Jamaican cuisine offers curry chicken, lamb, beef and goat, as well as meats infused with ‘jerk’ seasonings, making it hot, spicy and delicious. If you can stand up to the heat in the cooking, you can be in for quite a tasty treat when you sample Jamaican cuisine. Jamaica has its own unique variety of fruits and vegetables as well, such as callaloo (something akin to spinach), Ackee (which is part of Jamaica’s national dish of Saltfish ‘n Ackee), and some weird sounding fruit like ‘ugly fruit’, ‘star apple’ and ‘jack fruit’. One of Jamaica’s most popular foods that has made its mark in the United States and Canada is Jamaican Patties, a spicy meat pie with a flaky crust.

Other Caribbean Islands have their own unique and tasty dishes as well. Caribbean food dishes like conch fritters, coconut mango chicken, Arroz Con Pollo (a Spanish-style rice and chicken dish), Paella, and Red Pea Soup, arising from different Caribbean Islands, along with dishes coming from Mexico like empanadas, burritos and enchiladas are all part of that great Caribbean taste experience. In Mexico, hot chili peppers are often part of the ingredients in many of their signature dishes.

As one might expect, Caribbean food often incorporates seafood into its cuisine. You can find many Caribbean recipes that include many types of fish or shellfish, such as cod fish, mackerel, grouper, lobster, crab, or even a combination of fish and shell fish as in a Boatman’s Stew, a Paella dish or a seafood chowder.

Whatever island you choose for creating a Caribbean food experience, you won’t go wrong when it comes to taste and flavor. In the Caribbean, the weather is heated up by the spicy offerings of the Caribbean food. From Cuba, to Turks and Caicos, and the Cayman Islands to Mexico, Panama and Costa Rico, Caribbean food is something everyone will enjoy.

Introduction: If you enjoy that spicy Island style of cooking, this article outlines what makes Caribbean food special. From Cuba, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands to Mexico, Panama and Costa Rico, Caribbean food offers a unique blend and style of flavors that everyone enjoys.

If you would like to try tempting your family with Caribbean food recipes, try this new Caribbean cookbook: That Caribbean Flavor Over 50 great recipes include: Jamaican Beef Patties, Paella, Codfish Fritters, Jerk Sauce, Cuban Pork with Mango Salsa, Curry Chicken and much more.

Jamaican Cuisine and Traditional Jamaican Food

Jamaican Cuisine is definitely unique and quite flavourful, bringing with it a blend of the island’s local harvest and spice. The island’s food is represented by Jamaica’s motto, “Out of Many, One People”. Jamaican inhabitants have come from around the globe, including the British, Dutch, French, Spanish, East Indian, West African, Portuguese and Chinese, who brought with them their own unique cooking techniques, flavours, and spices, blending them with the island’s bountiful harvest.

The original inhabitants of Jamaica were the Arawak Indians, who died out after the arrival of the Spanish in 1509, due to disease and overwork. The Spanish then began importing slaves from Africa to replace their workforce. The Spanish brought with them their own culinary influence. As well, many Spanish Jews also arrived during the Spanish rule and contributed their influences to Jamaica’s cuisine, such as a dish still popular today, escovitch fish.

In 1655 the English took over Jamaica from the Spanish and turned much of the land into sugar plantations. The English influenced the development of one of Jamaica’s most popular foods, the Jamaican Pattie, a spiced meat turnover that is the equivalent of the island’s hamburger. Many varieties of Jamaican patties are found in many grocery freezers today.

A century later, indentured labourers of Chinese and East Indians replaced the African slaves after emancipation. These immigrants influenced the curry dishes that grace nearly every Jamaican menu today, such as curry goat, chicken and seafood.

A point of interest is in the Jamaica population of the Maroons. The Maroons are people descendant of escaped slaves of the Spanish, fierce fighters who took to the hills and were never recaptured. They settled in a remote hilly region south of Montego Bay in Cockpit Country. The Maroons now live in a completely self-sustained existence off the land are known as the island’s greatest herbalists.

As seen from above, Jamaican food is influenced by its history. “Bammie”, a toasted flat cake eaten with fried fish today, was made from the cassava grown by the Arawaks. The Maroons, slaves who were always on the run, devised a way of “jerking” meat (through spicing and slow cooking pork) that is popular in Jamaica today. Breadfruit, yams, root vegetables and ackee were brought from Africa to cheaply feed the slaves. It is said the breadfruit arrived with Captain William Bligh on the Bounty. And, as mentioned, the Chinese and East Indians brought with them their contributions of exotic flavours in their curry and other spices.

Added to the contributions of the foreign influences, indigenous vegetables, such as cho-cho (a squash-like vegetable) and callaloo (similar to spinach) are also popular in Jamaican cooking today, along with the island’s fruits of bananas, coconuts, mangoes and pineapples. Among the more exotic fruits popular in Jamaica are guineps, pawpaw, sweetsops and the star apple.

The native pimento tree brings allspice to many Jamaican dishes, as do ginger, garlic, nutmeg, and the Scotch Bonnet peppers, which are considered some of the hottest peppers on earth. The Scotch Bonnet is essential to making the jerk pork, jerk chicken and fish for which Jamaica is famous. The Maroons marinated meat for hours in a mixture of peppers, pimento seeds, scallion, thyme and nutmeg, and then cooked it slowly over an outdoor pit lined with pimento wood. Jerk stands can be found all over the island today offering tourists and inhabitants alike the unique spicy flavour famous all over the world.

Negril, located on Jamaica’s western shore, is famous for its “hippie” era. Hippies set up a colony there and enjoyed a laid-back lifestyle and “ganja”. From here, vegetarian meals abound.

Middle Quarters, an area of the south coast, offers dried peppered shrimp which is sold by the bag. Stamp and Go (saltfish fritters eaten as an appetizer) and mackerel Run-Down (pickled fish cooked in seasoned coconut milk until the fish just falls apart or literally “runs down”), as well as boiled green bananas and yams are served over the whole island.

Jamaica is also quite famous the world over for its Blue Mountain coffee, which gets its name from the Blue Mountains where the coffee beans are grown. The coffee industry in Jamaica began in 1725, when the governor brought seedlings from Martinique and planted them on his estate. Mountains cover approximately four-fifths of Jamaica, with the Blue Mountains reaching a height of 7,400 feet. The coffee is planted on terraces along the mountain slopes, 1,500 to 5,000 feet above sea level, and which is often shaded by avocado and banana trees.

Traditional Jamaican food includes Jamaica’s national dish of saltfish and ackee, an island breakfast dish. Ackee, when cooked looks and tastes much like scrambled eggs. Ackee is poisonous until it is ripe and is always served cooked.

Rice ‘n peas is also a popular island dish, but is not really peas but beans (usually red kidney beans.) Other traditional Jamaican food dishes include red pea soup (again kidney beans, salted pig tails, beef and vegetables), hard dough bread, fish tea (a fish bouillon), Johnny cakes (fried or baked breads), mannish water (a spicy soup made from goats’ heads), bulla (a spicy bun), stew peas (a soup of red peas or gungo peas), Solomon Gundy (an appetizer made of pickled fish) and festival (a type of bread).

As one can see, Jamaica offers a vast variety of dishes influenced by the island’s history. From British, Spanish, African, East Indian and Chinese, Jamaican cuisine is quite flavourful and often spicy, and is a culinary experience that all will enjoy.

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Let's Talk About Food

If you come from a specific background, you probably already know about the cuisine from that culture. For instance, if you are Italian, you probably are more than familiar with fettucine, Italian Wedding soup, pizza, Tuscan cooking, Sicilian cooking--I could go on and on. The food from the areas mentioned are unique and the dishes of Italy are well-known to you and others.

But--it is great to try foods from other areas of the world and get new taste experiences. Just because you are familiar with one style of cooking doesn't mean that you won't like anything else. There are many dishes the world over that are classics and they are delicious. No matter what background you come from, most of you have probably had these classic dishes and loved them (like spaghetti from Italy or ratatouille from France).

One thing that is great about traveling is that you get to try new cuisines. The food from other cultures is amazing and if you are up to new taste experiences you can get a lot of enjoyment by trying the local foods and dishes.

If you go on a Carribean vacation, for instance, why not try some of the local island dishes to add to your food repertoire. Try the curry goat from Jamaica, or the jerk pork. Sample the conch soup from the Cayman Islands. Taste a little empanadas from Panama or Arroz con Leche (rice pudding) from Cuba. You may be pleasantly surprised at the wonderful tastes these dishes have to offer.

Different cultures offer a chance to taste and sample new cuisines and to learn how to appreciate them. Each region of the world has its own special ingredients and style of cooking, suited to their climate and the availability of the ingredients that surround them. Each are unique and you can learn a lot about the specific country from the way its cooks and the ingredients it uses.

If you would like a chance to learn a little more about various countries and their unique cuisines, why not try me new Ebook: Tastes and Travels Ebook It offers reviews on various travel destinations and has articles on the cuisine of each place (as well as recipes that you can try).

Welcome to the NEW Tastes and Travels Blog!!

Well, this is the first post in my Tastes and Travels blog. Welcome!!!

What is this blog about? Well, I love to travel and I love to cook...and eat, so I am combining my loves and sharing them with you.

Travelling has to be one of the most rewarding things to do on this earth. Seeing different places, finding out how others live, taking in the beauty of the world--I can't think of a better thing to do!

Unless of course its eating. And another great part about travelling is that you get to sample different cuisines, different ways of cooking, ways of combining ingredients that you never thought of before, experience the tastes of new ingredients, new fruits, vegetables, spices -- oh, its so EXCITING!!!

I guess you get the idea that I am excited about my new blog. Future posts will get into the nitty-gritty of my travel experiences and even of places I WANT to travel to. I'll also provide recipes I have tried and created from the various places I have visited.

By the way, the picture shown was taken on a visit to Jamaica. It is of Blue Hole on the north coast -- not your typical shot of Jamaica, is it?

Come back and visit and we'll share this taste and travel experience together!!

If you want to get ahead of me, try reading my new ebook Tastes and Travels Ebook