Caribbean cuisine is a fusion tradition built from the collision of Indigenous Taino and Carib foodways, West African cooking carried by the transatlantic slave trade, European colonial cooking, and later Indian and Chinese influence brought by indentured laborers after the abolition of slavery. Staples include rice, beans, plantain and cassava, alongside seafood and, on many islands, goat and chicken prepared with fiery Scotch bonnet chili. Jerk seasoning and slow smoking, most associated with Jamaica, and one-pot rice dishes such as rice and peas, are widely shared techniques across island cuisines that otherwise differ significantly by colonial history, whether Spanish, British, French or Dutch. Callaloo, a leafy green stew, and saltfish dishes reflect the region's plantation-era food economy. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Signature TechniqueJerk marinating and slow wood smoking 1 Origin Region Connections
Associated With
Rum, Drinks Rum is the defining spirit of Caribbean cuisine and cocktail culture.
Source Rum (Wikipedia)
Features Dish
Source Ackee and saltfish (Wikipedia)
Source Cheese on toast (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Cou-cou
Source Dal puri (Wikipedia)
Source Doubles, Wikipedia
Source Festival (food) (Wikipedia)
Source Fried plantain (Wikipedia)
Source Hagelslag - Wikipedia
Source Fried plantain (Wikipedia)
Source Keshi yena (Wikipedia)
Source Limber (dessert) (Wikipedia)
Source Mofongo (Wikipedia)
Source Moros y Cristianos (dish) (Wikipedia)
Source Papadam (Wikipedia)
Source Pastelon, Wikipedia
Source Pholourie (Wikipedia)
Source Polvorón (Wikipedia)
Source Rice and peas, Wikipedia
Source Run down (Wikipedia)
Source Sancocho (Wikipedia)
Source Soup joumou (Wikipedia)
Source Stew peas (Wikipedia)
Source Tostones (Wikipedia)
Source Yellow rice (Wikipedia)
Open Questions
Source Caribbean Cuisine (Wikipedia)
Uses Ingredient
Cassava, Ingredients Cassava is an Indigenous Taino staple carried into Caribbean cooking.
Source Caribbean Cuisine (Wikipedia)
Scotch bonnet chili is central to Caribbean seasoning.
Source Caribbean Cuisine (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Sources
1. Caribbean Cuisine (Wikipedia)
Rum (Wikipedia)
Mofongo (Wikipedia)
Rice and peas, Wikipedia
Tostones (Wikipedia)
Fried plantain (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia: Cou-cou
Pastelon, Wikipedia
Hagelslag - Wikipedia
Cheese on toast (Wikipedia)
Fried plantain (Wikipedia)
Polvorón (Wikipedia)
Keshi yena (Wikipedia)
Moros y Cristianos (dish) (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Moros y Cristianos (dish), Wikipedia category listView the Source Run down (Wikipedia)
Wikidata: Pelau
Features Dish: Pelau, infobox national_cuisine fieldQuote, Features Dish: Pelau, infobox national_cuisine field
Caribbean
Ackee and saltfish (Wikipedia)
WikipediaFeatures Dish: Ackee and Saltfish, lead paragraphQuote, Features Dish: Ackee and Saltfish, lead paragraph
Ackee and saltfish is the Jamaican national dish prepared with sauteed ackee and salted codfish.
Wikipedia: Bammy
Features Dish: Bammy, lead paragraphQuote, Features Dish: Bammy, lead paragraph
Bammy is a traditional Jamaican cassava flatbread descended from the simple flatbread called casabe, eaten by the Taínos, Jamaica's Indigenous people.
Soup joumou (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Soup Joumou, lead paragraphQuote, Features Dish: Soup Joumou, lead paragraph
Soup Joumou (; French: soupe au giraumon, lit. ‘pumpkin soup’) is a soup native to Haitian cuisine.
Festival (food) (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Festival (food), lead paragraphQuote, Features Dish: Festival (food), lead paragraph
Festival or Jamaican festival is a type of deep-fried bread, typical of Jamaican cuisine, Despite its slightly sweet taste, it is served as a side dish with escovitch fish, seafood or jerk chicken, as well as a breakfast item and street food.
Stew peas (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Stew Peas, lead paragraphQuote, Features Dish: Stew Peas, lead paragraph
Stew peas is a Jamaican stew made with beans, salted meat, coconut milk, herbs and spices.
Dal puri (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Dal puri, Infobox: associated_cuisineQuote, Features Dish: Dal puri, Infobox: associated_cuisine
South Asian cuisine, South Asia (including Bengali cuisine, Bengali and Bhojpuri cuisine, Bhojpuri), Caribbean cuisine, Caribbean (including Trinidad and Tobago cuisine, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyanese cuisine, Guyana), Mauritian cuisine, Mauritius
Pholourie (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Pholourie, Lead sectionQuote, Features Dish: Pholourie, Lead section
commonly eaten in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and other parts of the Caribbean
Yellow rice (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Yellow rice, Lead sectionQuote, Features Dish: Yellow rice, Lead section
Yellow rice is a traditional yellow-colored rice dish in Iranian, Middle East, Moroccan, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Caribbean, Portuguese, Filipino, Afghan, Indian, Sri Lankan, South African and Indonesian
Papadam (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Papadam, Lead sectionQuote, Features Dish: Papadam, Lead section
served as an accompaniment to a meal in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean
Sancocho (Wikipedia)
WikipediaFeatures Dish: Sancocho, Lead sectionQuote, Features Dish: Sancocho, Lead section
Sancocho (from the Spanish verb sancochar, 'to parboil') is a traditional stew in several Caribbean and Latin American cuisines
Doubles, Wikipedia
Features Dish: Doubles, Infobox: regionQuote, Features Dish: Doubles, Infobox: region
Caribbean, United States, Canada, United Kingdom
Limber (dessert) (Wikipedia)
Features Dish: Limber (dessert), Lead paragraphQuote, Features Dish: Limber (dessert), Lead paragraph
A limber is a frozen ice pop originating in Puerto Rico.
Griot (Wikipedia)
WikipediaFeatures Dish: Griot, Lead paragraphQuote, Features Dish: Griot, Lead paragraph
Griot (; French: griot, Haitian Creole: griyo [gɣijo]) is a dish in Haitian cuisine.
Open Questions (1 open question)
Did jerk seasoning and slow smoking originate with the Indigenous Taino, with Maroon communities of escaped enslaved Africans, or as a fusion of both?
The pit-smoking technique is documented among Jamaicas Taino inhabitants before European contact, and Maroon communities in the same region are separately credited with developing the spice marinade and much of the technique as it survives today; oral tradition and food-history writing attribute the fusion differently depending on which strand a given account emphasizes.
What would resolve this Colonial-era written accounts or archaeological evidence dating the spice marinade specifically, rather than the smoking pit alone, would help separate the two strands; much of the record is oral rather than documentary, which may keep this genuinely unresolved.
Culinary and Caribbean historyCaribbean Cuisine (Wikipedia)
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