Jamaican cuisine

Jamaican cuisine—jerk chicken and pork served with hard dough bread, jerk sauce, festival, fried pressed plantain and coleslaw, in Jamaica.

The Taínos jerked, smoked and roasted foods on a range of wooden grills.

Taíno (Arawak) women preparing bammy in the 1500s.

Jamaican cuisine includes a mixture of cooking techniques, flavours and spices influenced by Amerindian, West African, Irish, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern people who have inhabited the island. It is also influenced by indigenous crops, as well as, crops introduced to the island from Mesoamerica, Europe, tropical West Africa and Southeast Asia— which are now grown locally. A wide variety of seafood, tropical fruits and meats are available.

Some Jamaican dishes are variations of cuisines brought to the island from elsewhere, which are often modified to incorporate local produce and spices. Many others are novel or Creole dishes, created from a fusion of dishes, techniques and ingredients from different cultures— which have developed locally over time. Popular Jamaican dishes include curry goat, fried dumplings, brown stew oxtail, ackee and saltfish and jerk. Jamaican patties along with various pastries, breads and beverages are also popular.

Jamaican cuisine has spread with migration, between the mid-17th and 20th centuries. Contingents of Jamaican merchants and labourers, who settled in coastal Latin America, to establish businesses, and work in agriculture and the construction of railroads, ports and the Panama Canal, contributed Jamaican dishes to the region. Also, Jamaicans who have sought economic opportunities in other parts of the world, have spread their culture and culinary practices.

History

Women selling desserts in Kingston, Jamaica, c. 1899

Development of the cuisine

Taíno / Arawak influence

The original inhabitants of Jamaica, the Taínos, developed dishes such as jerk meats, roasted fish, bammy, cassava bread and pepperpot (made with callaloo and scotch bonnet pepper). Taíno influence can also be found in dishes like turned cornmeal, duckunoo, Jamaican hominy corn porridge and Saturday beef soup. They are believed to have kept a stock pot in which meat, fish and vegetables were collected for soup.

Many native crops and local staples, like peppers (scotch bonnet, cayenne and other cultivars) and beans (like kidney beans) were taken to Jamaica in canoes from Mesoamerica— along with corn, sweet potato, cacao and cassava. They also cultivated squash, pumpkin, yam, peanut, guava, potato, pineapple, starapple, papaya, and other local ingredients. According to historian, James Delbourgo, the brewing of cocoa beans, which led to the creation of chocolate milk and traditional Jamaican chocolate tea, came from the Taínos.

Cooking techniques like jerking, grilling, roasting and barbecuing, as well as, the use of earth ovens, charcoal, pimento wood, plantain or banana leaves and corn husks to cook, can be traced back to them.

Spanish and Portugese influence

The Spanish, the first European arrivals to Jamaica, contributed many dishes and introduced a variety of crops and ingredients to the island— such as Asian rice, sugar cane, citrus like sweet orange, sour orange (Seville and Valencia), lime and lemon, tamarind, coconut, tomato, avocado, banana, grape, pomegranate, plantain, lettuce, carrot, fig and many other fruits and vegetables. They also brought cattle, goat, pig and other livestock that are eaten on the island, as well as, rum, herbs and spices such as rosemary, thyme, garlic, onion, oregano, ginger and others.

Many beans / peas dishes, stews, fish and rice dishes that are Jamaican staples, originated in Spain. Spanish culinary contributions include the vinegary escovitch / escoveitch fish (Spanish escabeche), Creole dishes like rice and peas, steamed fish, Jamaican Spanish rice, stews like brown stew meats (chicken, pork, oxtail etc.), stew peas and red peas soup with cured meats, as well as, the soaking of fruits in wine for desserts like Jamaican wedding and Christmas cakes. Spanish and Portuguese Jews who had escaped the inquisition in the 1500s, also introduced coconut macaroons, gizzada, and salted codfish which is used in breakfast dishes and Jamaica's national dish— ackee and saltfish. It has become a staple from the time it was eaten by enslaved Africans as a long-lasting source of affordable protein. The Jamaican patty, a pasty or empanada-styled turnover filled with spiced meat may have been influenced by the Spanish and Cornish.

Cooking and preservation techniques which include stewing, frying, brining and curing meats were also influenced by the Spaniards.

African influence

African cuisine developed on the island as a result of waves of slavery and indentureship, such as callaloo from the Angolan dish calulu, okra and taro. Along with the Europeans, Africans contributed to the cultivation of rice, cow peas and pigeon peas (known as gungo locally) in the Americas, which are key ingredients in some local dishes. Their knowledge of cultivating and using crops that were introduced by the Europeans, from Africa and other regions, helped to shape cuisines in the Americas including Jamaica's. African influences can be seen in one-pot dishes like seasoned rice, callaloo rice, ackee and saltfish and turned cornmeal. Dishes prepared with offals like tripe and bean, cow foot stew, cow skin or cow cod soup and mannish water (goat head soup), were also influenced by them. They also adopted and added the use of certain spices and ground provisions to variations of dishes from other cultures, as well as, Creole dishes that were created on the island during the colonial era. Jamaican sweets such as Bustamante backbone or stagga back and asham can be traced back to the Africans, along with the names of foods like "duckunoo" and "gungo".

English, Irish and Scottish influences

Baked goods like puddings, sponge cakes, fruit cakes, breads, pies and spiced bun were influenced by the British, who ruled the island until its independence, as well as, indentured labourers from England, Scotland and Ireland who arrived on the island after the abolition of slavery to replace slaves. As such, Jamaican Easter bun and cheese, jams, other sweet treats, teas and some colonial era Creole dishes have British influences. Sunday roast variations which include pot roast meats, vegetables and potato, as well as, breakfast dishes which include baked beans (adopted from Native Americans by the British), are also made in Jamaica. British influences can also be seen in how Jamaicans prepare dinners for holidays and Sundays. Irish moss and porridges were influenced by the Irish and Scottish. Also, deep frying, a cooking technique used to prepare dishes like Jamaican fried chicken, fried dumpling and festival may have been influenced by the Scots, along with the Spanish and Portuguese.

Staple crops like breadfruit, Otaheite apple, various mangoes, rose apple, coffee, rice (Gold Seede), ackee and black pepper were introduced to the island by the British. They also contributed to the distillation of rum, which they exported and traded along with molasses for flour, pork and pickled fish.

Due to the migration of British settlers, enslaved and emancipated Afro-Jamaicans and Creole Jamaicans to coastal Central America, between the 17th and 20th centuries, Jamaican dishes some of which were influenced by the British, have been contributed to Belize and the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala and San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina.

Asian influences

During the period of indentureship other labourers migrated to Jamaica from India, China, Germany and the Azores in Portugal. As such, East Indian influences can be found in Jamaican cuisine like roti, dhal, ginger and curried dishes, while Chinese influences can be found in dishes with pak choy and mustard, the use of soy sauce and escallion on meats, chow mein and sweet and sour meats.

French influences

The French, possibly those who fled from Haiti or French Jews who went to Jamaica during the inquisition, along with the Spanish, may have influenced dishes like Jamaican fricassee chicken and other cooking techniques.

Jamaican cuisine and the Rastafari

Jamaican cuisine includes Rastafari influences. Rastafari have a holistic vegan approach to preparing food, cooking, and eating, and have introduced a host of unique vegetarian dishes to Jamaican cuisine. Rastafari do not eat any living creature, saying that nothing with a face is suitable for human consumption. The diet of adherents of Rastafari beliefs is referred to as Ital, from the English word vital. This diet is believed by adherents to maintain and honor the Temple of the Body, wherein the spirit of divinity dwells. Food which is grown nearby, picked fresh, and cooked immediately possesses the most "Itality". Popular Ital dishes include ackee stew, pepper pot, pumpkin rice, and callaloo. Modern Rastafari are blending global vegan trends with Ital roots, creating new dishes such as jerk hummus.

Popular dishes

Main article: List of Jamaican dishes

Ackee and saltfish

A Jamaican patty wrapped in coco bread

A Jamaican breakfast includes ackee and saltfish, seasoned callaloo, boiled green bananas, and fried dumplings.

Soups

• Beef soup
• Chicken soup
• Corn soup
• Cow skin soup
• Fish tea
• Gungo peas soup
• Janga soup
• Mannish water
• Pepperpot
• Pumpkin soup
• Conch soup
• Red peas soup
• Mutton soup

Side dishes

• Breadfruit (boiled, fried or roasted)
• Callaloo
• Cooked rice
• Dumplings (boiled or fried)
• Festival
• Bammy (fried or steamed)
• Fried plantain
• Pressed green plantain
• Boiled plantain
• Fried rice
• Green banana
• Ground provisions
• Macaroni and cheese
• Potato salad
• Rice and peas
• Spanish rice
• Seasoned rice - containing saltfish and spices.
• Pumpkin rice
• Callaloo rice
• Coconut rice
• Stir-fry or steamed vegetables
• Shredded cabbage and carrot
• Bok choy
• Stew peas
• Turned cornmeal

Breads and pastries

Bammy flatbread

• Bammy
• Black cake
• Bulla cake
• Coco bread
• Grotto
• Hard dough bread
• Peg bread
• Rock cake
• Rum cake
• Spiced bun
• Sugar bun

Beverages

• Bigga and D&G sodas
• Bush tea
• Carrot juice with spices such as nutmeg and vanilla
• Chocolate milk
• Cherry malt
• Coffee drinks
• Cocktails
• D&G Malta
• Fruit juices (june plum, guava, mango, otaheite apple, pawpaw, pineapple, soursop, cherry, ribena, starfruit, jimbilin etc.)
• Ginger beer
• Guinness punch with spices such as nutmeg and vanilla
• Irish moss
• Peanut punch
• Eggnog
• Limeade
• Liqueurs (Sangster's, Tia Maria, etc.)
• Mauby
• Pimento dram
• Red Stripe
• Rums
• Rum creams (including flavours like coffee, chocolate, rum & raisin, coconut and banana)
• Sorrel
• Lasco Jamaica food drinks
• Supligen
• Tamarind Fizz
• Ting (grapefruit soda)
• Kola Champagne
• Cream soda

Desserts and sweets

Grapenut and rum and raisin ice cream are two popular desserts. Jamaican ice cream comes in many flavours like, coffee, pistachio, jackfruit, coconut, mango, pineapple, guava, soursop and Dragon Stout.

Other popular desserts include batata pudding, cornmeal pudding, cassava pone, gizzada, grater cake, toto, banana fritters, coconut drops, plantain tarts, guava cheese, banana bread, rum cake, carrot cake, pineapple cake, fruit cake and coconut macaroons.

Tie-a-leaf or blue drawers is a dish made by combining a starch (usually cornmeal, cassava or sweet potato) with coconut milk, spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, sugar and vanilla, then wrapped and tied in banana leaf before boiling.

Asham is parched corn that is ground and combined with brown sugar.

Tamarind balls are candy made with the sticky flesh of the fruit rolled with brown sugar into round sweet and sour balls. You can also make a spicy version that contains hot pepper in the mix.

Bustamante Backbone, also called Busta, stagga back or buss mi jaw, is a toffee-like candy named after Jamaica's first Prime Minister Alexander Bustamante. It is made with brown sugar, coconut, ginger and molasses, and can also include coffee, vanilla and lime juice.

Jamaican food abroad

Jamaican coco bread from a Los Angeles bakery

Jamaican cuisine is available throughout North America, the United Kingdom, and other places with a sizeable Jamaican population. In the United States, a large number of restaurants are located throughout New York's boroughs, Atlanta, West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Washington DC, Philadelphia, and other metropolitan areas. In Canada, Jamaican restaurants can be found in the Toronto metropolitan area, as well as Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa.

Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery & Grill is a chain of about 120 franchised restaurants found throughout the U.S. These restaurants sell Jamaican patties, buns, breads, and other popular Jamaican dishes. They also supply food to several institutions in New York.

See also

• Caribbean cuisine

External links

• Media related to Cuisine of Jamaica at Wikimedia Commons
• daytimeexclusive.com - A Recipe Guide On How To Bake Jamaican Sweet Potato Pudding