Taste The Caribbean - So Many Islands, So Many Flavors

You'd think that you'd find the same food on each Caribbean island, and you'd be right to a certain extent. But I can guarantee you that it won't taste the same! The way a Jamaican flavors rice, is surely not the same way a Barbadian (Bajan) would do it, and what one island calls Conkies the other calls Doucanou, and on and on the list goes. It can be quite confusing for visitors to figure out what they are eating and what foods they should try on each island. So I've compiled a list of favorites from each island to help you taste the Caribbean.

Jamaica
Jamaicans eat lots of ground provisions and rice. Staples include green banana, sweet potato, yams, breadfruit and ackee. It never ceases to amaze me how every house (it seems) has a breadfruit tree and an ackee tree and yet at every corner there is someone selling these items. They have no problem eating these foods for breakfast either so don't find it strange if a Jamaican offers you green banana, callaloo, sweet potato and salted cod for breakfast. They also love to flavor foods with coconut milk and allspice.



Foods to try:
Ackee and Saltfish (National Dish)
Jerk Chicken
Curried Goat & Rice
Traditional Jamaican breakfast
Mannish Water (Goat head soup - Warning for real men only!)
Festival (bread product similar to a fried muffin)
Roast Breadfruit
Breadfruit Chips


Photo: Ackee & Salted Cod

Beverages to try:
Red Stripe Beer
Coconut Water
Ginger Beer
Blue Mountain Coffee

Barbados
Barbadian cuisine is heavily influenced by British and African fare. Breakfasts are traditional with eggs, toast, bacon, cereal etc. I like to say that Barbadians embrace a wide range of foods but make it their own. Barbadians love chicken, pork and lamb. A typical Barbadian meal would be rice and peas, beef or lamb stew, macaroni pie and baked chicken. Favorite ingredients for flavoring include onions, sweet pepper, garlic, thyme, ginger etc. Not many Barbadians cook with coconut milk or allspice like Jamaicans and some other islands.



Foods to try:
Fish Cakes and Bakes
Cou Cou and Flying Fish (National Dish)
Sweet Potato Pudding and Souse
Conkies
Pineapple Sweet Potato Pie
Cassava Pone
Bul Jol (made with salted Cod)
Pickled Breadfruit
Plantain Chips
Rum Cake


Photo: Cou Cou and Flying Fish

Beverages to try:
Banks Beer
Mauby (bitter sweet drink made from tree bark)
Plus (energy drink made from hops and barley)
Rum Punch
Mount Gay Rum (world's oldest rum)
Coconut Water

Trinidad & Tobago
If I had to sum up the flavor of Trinidadian cooking in one word it would be Curry. Their cuisine is heavily influenced by Indian and Amerindian cooking and so even fruits like golden apple and mango get the curry treatment. Popular spices used include garam masala, tumeric, ginger, and of course curry. Trinidadians are also known for preserving all kinds of fruits by salting them or by making them extremely sweet - and they can be quite addictive.



Foods to try:
Chicken/Beef/Goat Roti (Curried meat served in a flour tortilla-like skin)
Doubles (Curried Chickpeas served in a fluffy, soft bread product)
Pelau (Rice, peas, meat, vegetables cooked together)
Callaloo Soup (National Dish)
Shark N Bake Sandwich
Tamarind Balls
Salted prunes
Sugar Cakes


Photo: Meat Roti

Beverages to try:
Twist Shandy
Sorrel
Mauby
Soursop Punch

Other Islands
This could easily be a never-ending post as there are so many good foods to eat in the Caribbean, but I'll leave you with a few flavors from the other islands.

Foods to try:
St. Lucia - Green Fig and Salted Cod (National Dish)
St. Kitts - Stewed Salted Cod, Spicy Plantains, Seasoned Breadfruit & Coconut Dumplings (National Dish)
Grenada - Oil-Down (Soup) (National Dish)
Guyana - Pepper Pot & Rice and peas (Hot, spicy stew of various meats)(National Dish)
Antigua & Barbuda - Pepperpot and Fungi (National Dish)
Dominica - Mountain Chicken (Frog legs)
Martinique - Colombo (Curried meat dish served with plantains)


Photo: Oil-Down

So remember to taste the Caribbean next time you visit!