Jamaican cuisine
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Cuisine of Jamaica includes a mixture of cooking techniques, flavors, spices and influences from the indigenous people on the island, and the Spanish, British, African, Indians, and Chinese who have inhabited the island. The cuisine includes various dishes from the respective cultures brought to the island with the arrival of people from elswhere. Other dishes are novel or a fusion of techniques and traditions. In addition to ingredients that are native to Jamaica, many foods have been introduced and are now grown locally. A wide variety of seafood, tropical fruits and meats are available.
Some Jamaican cuisine dishes are variations on the cuisines and cooking styles brought to the island from elsewhere. These are often modified to incorporate local produce. Others are novel and have developed locally. Popular Jamaican dishes include curry goat, fried dumplings, ackee and salt fish (cod) (the national dish of Jamaica), fried plantain, "jerk", steamed cabbage and "rice and peas" (pigeon peas or kidney beans). Jamaican Cuisine has been adapted by African, British, French, Chinese and Indian influences. Jamaican patties and various pastries and breads are also popular as well as fruit beverages and Jamaican rum.
Jamaican cuisine has spread with emigrations, especially during the the 20th Century, from the island to other nations as Jamaicans have sought economic opportunities in other areas.
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[edit] History
[edit] Cuisine of the Tainos
Christopher Columbus visited Jamaica multiple times towards the end of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th century, once even shipwrecked off the north coast for two years (1503-1504). During these visits he described a way the Arawaks (the indigenous inhabitants of Jamaica) preserved meat by adding peppers, allspice and sea salt to make what is now known as Jamaican jerk spice.
[edit] Development of the cuisine
The Spanish, the first European arrivals to the island contributed dishes such as the vinegary concoction escovitched fish (Spanish escabeche). Later, Cantonese/Hakka influences developed the Jamaican patty, an empanada styled turnover filled with spiced meat. African cuisine developed on the island as a result of waves of slavery introduced by the European powers. More Chinese and East Indian influences can also be found in Jamaican cuisine, as a result of indentured labourers who replaced slaves after emancipation brought their own culinary talents (especially curry, which Jamaican chefs sometimes use to season goat meat for special occasions).
African cuisine, Indian cuisine and American cuisine, Chinese cuisine and British cuisine are not new to the island. Through many years of British colonialism the cuisine developed many habits of cooking particular to a trading colony. The natives of Jamaica drink the most tea per capita in the Caribbean to this day as a result[citation needed].
[edit] Popular ingredients
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- Ackee
- Allspice (locally known as "pimento")
- Avocado (locally known as "pear")
- Black pepper
- Breadfruit
- Callaloo
- Cassava (locally known as "yuca")
- Chayote (locally known as "chocho")
- Coconut
- Coconut milk
- Escallion
- Green Banana
- Ginger
- Pigeon peas (locally known as "gungo peas")
- Plantain
- Scotch bonnet (pepper)
- Taro (locally known as "dasheen" or "coco")
- Jerk spice
- Yam (vegetable)
- Garlic
- Dried and salted cod (locally known as "salt fish")
- Salt beef
- Thyme
- Oxtail
- Cow feet
- Pig tail and ears
- Guava
- Passion fruit
- Soursop
- Sugar cane
- Ketchup
- Onion
- Browning Sauce
- Boniato (locally known as "sweet potato")
- Calabaza (locally known as "pumpkin")
- Anatto
- Gungo pea
- Kidney bean
- Roselle (plant) (locally known as "sorrel")
- Tamarind
- Acerola (locally known as "cherry")
- Lima bean
- Chondrus crispus
- Tahitian apple (locally known as "June plum")
- Jackfruit
- Pineapple
- Malay apple (locally known as "apple" or "Otaheite apple")
- banana
- Vinegar
[edit] Popular dishes
A Jamaican breakfast is said to include ackee and saltfish, seasoned callaloo, boiled green bananas, and Johnny Cakes.[1]
[edit] Main courses
- Ackee and saltfish
- Jerk chicken - grilled Jerk-spiced chicken/pork
- Curry goat and Curried Mutton
- Jamaican patties (beef, chicken, vegetarian, cheese, curry)
- Brown Stew Chicken, Brown Stew Beef
- Escoveitch fish (like Spanish cuisine escabeche
- Oxtail
- Corned Beef and cabbage
- Saltfish with cabbage or callaloo
- Steamed fish
- Jamaican spiced bun
[edit] Soups
- Mannish Water (Head and "man meat" of Goat soup) - said to be an aphrodisiac. Traditionally eaten at New Year's Eve[citation needed]
- Coconut Rundown - spicy mackerel and coconut stew
- Fish tea
[edit] Side dishes
- Rice and peas - rice stewed with beans and coconut milk.
- Pilau - a dish containing rice, chicken, pork, shellfish, and vegetables, similar to Paella
- Red Peas Soup
- Stewed Peas
- Callaloo
- Cabbage
- Pepperpot Soup
- Okra (also Okra and saltfish stew)
- Pigfoot
- Cowfoot
- Solomon gundy
- Spinners dumplings shaped by "spinning" it in the hands.[2]
[edit] Breads and pastries
[edit] Beverages
- Carrot juice with spices such as nutmeg and vanilla
- Ginger beer
- Irish Moss (also called sea moss) a milkshake like beverage said to be an aphrodisiac.[3]
- Limeade
- Mango juice
- Peanut punch
- Sorrel drink
- Tamarind drink
- Bush tea
- Tamarind Fizz
- Cucumber juice
- Otaheiti Apple Juice
- Sour Sop juice
Hot Chocolate Sky Juice Suck-Suck
- Ting soda
[edit] Desserts
Mango and soursop ice Cream are two popular desserts. Jamaican ice cream is traditionally made with coconut milk, rather than milk or cream as used elsewhere. The most popular Jamaican ice cream flavours are grapenut and rum raisin.
Other popular desserts include potato pudding, gizzada (a small tart shell with sweet spiced coconut filling), grater cake, toto (dessert) (a small coconut cake), banana fritters, coconut drops, plantain tart. Duckunoo is a Ghanaian dish made with sweetened starch (usually cornmeal but can also be cassava) wrapped and boiled in a banana leaf. Also called "blue drawers'. Asham is ground or powdered sweetened parched corn. There is also Bustamante Backbone, named after the first Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante.
[edit] Export
Jamaican cuisine has been brought to the United States including a large number of restaurants in some of New York's boroughs and other metropolitan areas like Atlanta, Georgia, and cities in Florida. Many Jamaicans work in hospitals, and Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill is a chain of about 120 franchised restaurants spread through many states with many of them owned by nurses. The eatery specializes in Jamaican patties and supplies them to schools and prisons in New York. Darden Restaurants has also opened a Caribbean food chain.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Cuisine of Jamaica |
- List of Popular Jamaican Dishes
- Jamaican Food and Recipes
- Jamaica Recipes (includes description of Jamaican Cuisine)
[edit] References
- ^ Deborah S. Hartz Authentic Jamaican breakfast Aug 1, 1991 Ocala Star-Banner page 44
- ^ Dictionary of Jamaican English By Frederic Gomes Cassidy, Robert Brock Le Page page 420
- ^ http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/newsday/access/104297272.html?dids=104297272:104297272&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Feb+04%2C+1987&author=SYLVIA+CARTER&pub=Newsday+(Combined+editions)&desc=A+TASTE+OF+THE+ISLANDS&pqatl=google
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