Cuisine

Caribbean

Island cooking built from Taíno roots, West African traditions, European colonisers and Indian and Chinese indentured workers: rice and peas, jerk, curries, stews, plantains and Scotch bonnet heat.

Flavour character: Hot, herby and bright: Scotch bonnet, allspice (pimento), thyme and spring onion; green seasoning and sofrito; lime and sour orange; coconut milk; curry powder in Indo-Caribbean dishes.

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Tantalizing Caribbean jerk chicken served with rice and beans and fried plantains on a square plate.

History

The Indigenous Taíno grew cassava and cooked over wooden frames (barbacoa, the root of 'barbecue'). The sugar economy brought hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans whose cooking became the backbone of island food: one-pot stews, callaloo, rice and beans, fried dough. After emancipation (1830s in the British colonies), indentured labourers from India and China arrived, especially in Trinidad, Guyana and Jamaica, bringing roti, curry and chow mein. Jamaican jerk is commonly traced to the Maroons, escaped enslaved people in the mountains. Haiti's soup joumou was inscribed by UNESCO in 2021.

Well documented

Geography and influences

Tropical islands of the Greater and Lesser Antilles and the Bahamas: sugar cane, plantains, root crops, tropical fruit, spices (allspice, nutmeg in Grenada) and reef fish.

Taíno and Carib peoples
West African cooking
Spanish, British, French and Dutch colonisers
Indian and Chinese indentured workers

Regional variations

Jamaica: Jerk, curry goat, ackee and saltfish, patties, rice and peas.
Trinidad and Tobago: Indo-Caribbean doubles, roti, curry duck; green seasoning; pelau.
Cuba: Sofrito, mojo, black beans, ropa vieja; little chilli heat.
Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic: Sofrito and recaito, mofongo, mangu, sancocho, arroz con gandules.
Haiti: Epis seasoning, griot, pikliz, diri ak djon djon, soup joumou.
Barbados and the Bahamas: Cou-cou and flying fish, macaroni pie, conch fritters.