The Caribbean -

The Caribbean

Caribbean cuisine is really a fusion of African, Amerindian, British, Spanish, French, Dutch, Indian, and Chinese cuisine. These traditions were brought from the many homelands of this region's inhabitants. In addition, the population has created styles which are unique to the region.

A typical dish and one increasingly common outside of the area is "jerk" seasoned meats, commonly chicken. It's an original, spicy flavour, reminiscent of Louisiana Creole cuisine, but still quite distinct from it. Curry goat and chicken are eaten throughout the Anglophone Caribbean islands, penetrating much further into the Caribbean than have the Indians who introduced them to the region over 150 years ago, most notably in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and Guyana. Haitian, Guadeloupean and other French Caribbean cuisine, is often rather similar. Rice is a prime food eaten with various sauces and beans, which West Indians call peas.

A local version of Caribbean goat stew has been chosen as the official national dish of Montserrat and is also one of the signature dishes of St. Kitts and Nevis. It is a tomato-based stew, created using goat meat, breadfruit, green pawpaw (papaya), and dumplings (also known as "droppers"). Another well-liked dish in the Anglophone Caribbean is called "Cook-up" or Pelau, a dish which combines variations of meats like chicken, beef, saltfish and or pigeon peas or vegetables with rice. Callaloo is usually a dish containing leafy vegetables and sometimes okra amongst others, widely distributed in the Caribbean, which has a distinctively mixed African and indigenous character.

Meanwhile, the Spanish-speaking parts of the Caribbean usually prefer more savoury spices to these sharper flavours. Lime and garlic, for instance, tend to be more common on Puerto Rico, Cuba and in the coastal areas of Colombia than pimento (or "allspice"). Other common flavours in the region include cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

Seafood is one of the most common cuisine types in the islands, and often each island may have its own specialty. Some prepare lobster or conch, while some prefer certain kinds of fish or sharks. The island of Barbados is known for its "flying fish," while Trinidad and Tobago is known for its cascadura fish and crab, also fried shark served as a sandwich called "bake and shark". While Saltfish Accra is served all across Caribbean which has its roots from western Africa.

Another Caribbean mainstay is rice, in various forms on different islands. Some season their rice or add peas and other touches for example coconut. Sometimes the rice is yellow, other times it might be more brown but overall it tends to just act as a part of a dish.

Conch is a very popular food in The Bahamas and Belize as well, where fritters are created by making a batter from the chopped meat, seasonings and dough, and then deep frying.