Caribbean Gastronomy

Caribbean cuisine is primarily a fusion. Recipes are mixed.

autochthonous with the indigenous, European, American, and even Oriental. This is
it goes back centuries when the colonizing powers arrived that
They blended their customs and recipes with the variety of the Caribbean. It's a mixture.
of vegetables, greens, fruits, seafood, and fish
One of the advantages of this area is that you can choose the fish you want.
desire before preparing it and enjoying it on the beach. Tropical fruits are
truly incredible, as the climate makes the guava, mango, and banana
contribute to the fusion of exquisite flavors. Cassava or yuca is one of the
best accompaniments for fish and is prepared in different ways, for
satisfy the most demanding palates.
In their eating habits, the deep imprint of the passage of the
generations, who have left a sediment of uses and customs in this
matter. Like its people, coastal food is the result of many mixtures. If we
we would go back in time to seek the origin of the things that
we consume daily, we find the indigenous matrix: corn,
cassava, the chilies, the tomato, the avocado, and so many fruits like sapote, papaya,
guava, caimito, hicaco. Also the African contributions in products such as the
my name and the candle, and the Europeans, like beef and dairy products, oranges,
lemons, and Asians, like banana, mango, and rice.
In recent years, several books have been published that help us to understand
better the origins, the recipes, and the evolution of Caribbean cuisine. These works
they have the advantage that more than an academic exercise, they are mainly and
Fortunately, a celebration of the food from these regions.
For example, María José Yances is the author of It Tastes Like Everything. The Tradition
cuisine of Córdoba (2009). There, the author retrieves many of the recipes from
which at the beginning of the 20th century was called the savannas of Bolívar. For the
In the case of Barranquilla, Betty Kovalski has published Immigrant Cuisine
(2009), where it presents a varied cookbook of the culinary melting pot that is the kitchen.
from that city. In the introductory essay of that book, Gustavo García illustrates
very well how the Barranquilla hearth was enriched with the contributions of
Sephardic Jews, Greeks, Syrian-Lebanese, Poles, Chinese, Germans, and people from
all the regions of the Colombian Caribbean Coast. If someone wanted a
the most historic cut treatment can refer to Caribbean Hearth (2010), of
Enrique Morales.
For me in particular, in this coastal gastronomy I am more interested in the
enormous delight of enjoying along the paths of the Caribbean everything it has to offer
hospitality offers a kitchen. How can one not remember, for example, the quibbes that
they sell where Deyanira, at the entrance of Cereté. Or the magnificent restaurants
Arabs from Montería. Perhaps the dish that best synthesizes what food is.
sinuana is the nickname for cheese. It embodies the imprint of the indigenous in the
peppers, the soul of indigenous cuisine according to María José Yances, the African influence in the
name me, the European in the cheese and the Arab in the fried eggplant.
Whoever arrives in Sincelejo, I recommend two things: have a cold peto in the
Majagual Square and eating a boiled local corn on the cob in front of the cathedral.
Along all the roads, the corn cakes, coconut, yucca, are clean.
always a delight. In case you visit Mompox, the little casquitos of
Lemons are very good for mitigating the heat of that "hot land of the earth."
hot

In Santa Marta, the best fried sierra in the entire Caribbean and breakfast is served.
with cayeye, boiled green plantain mashed with coastal cheese. It is the
best way to start a day when the sun is shining and the Sierra
Completely clear Nevada. For those who venture into the La peninsula.
Guajira the dried shrimp rice on the beaches of Camarones will always be a
pleasure, especially if you crown it with a delicious local dessert, the eggs of
milk.

CARIBBEAN
Geographic Location
The Caribbean is a region formed by the Caribbean Sea, its islands, and the coasts.
that surround this sea. The region is located to the southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and
North America, east of Central America, and north of South America.
Continental countries with Caribbean coasts and islands:

Belize
Costa Rica
French Guiana
Guatemala
Guyana
Honduras
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Suriname
Venezuela
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Cuba
Granada
Dominica
Haiti
Jamaica
Puerto Rico
Dominican Republic
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Saint Lucia
TrinidadandTobago

Caribbean Gastronomy
Caribbean cuisine is a faithful expression of a centuries-old history, with a rich
exchange of cultures, customs, and traditions of such diverse peoples, that
from distant countries of Europe, Africa, and Asia, united with the indigenous people themselves
Americans have formed a unique profile in the countries that today integrate
the region.
Culinary art once forgotten, and rescued at other times from the hands of the ancients
cooks who were once slaves or the grandmother of the house to save
the historical memory, today is presented to the vital visitor, in a back and forth of
influences, between one island and another, as a thread that connects a larger fabric
which allows us to talk about a Caribbean cuisine that we invite you to discover
with some brief examples, due to space, of picturesque names.
In Cuba, ajiaco is a stew made with meat, corn, potatoes, cassava, and other tubers;
Moros y cristianos is rice with beans or red beans, and congrí is rice with
black beans; guenguel is a sweet made from ground corn, sugar, and cinnamon.
The Dominican Republic has sancocho, a kind of Madrid stew but with
chicken, beef, ham, chorizo, vegetables and legumes.
Haiti offers, as a national dish, rice with collared greens, that is, rice with.
peas; herring with cassava soaked, which is nothing else
dried fish with avocado and yuca and grilled pork with bananas: pork
spiced roast with plantain. Puerto Rico gifts us the meat hallacas.
pork or chicken, wrapped in banana leaves and the asopao, meat soup
pork and shrimp.
In Jamaica, wrapped in banana leaves and the asopao, pork meat soup.
and shrimp.
In Jamaica, there is the run-down or obe, which is coconut milk flan with fish.
in pickle and bananas; the ackee, fish seasoned with spices and the
cho-chos, filled with a mixture of coconut, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Virgin Islands
it has the fungi, with corn as a base and is served with fish, beef and
vegetables.
In Curacao we find keshi yena, marinated fish with cheese and raisins;
Bahamas has conch salad: seafood chopped with chili and lemon juice,
and the green turtle pie, which is nothing other than turtle cake. In Trinidad and
Tobago can taste callao soup, crustaceans with coconut nuts, spinach
and spices.
Thus, the Caribbean diet mixes cassava, sweet potato or potato, corn, the
name me, the yautía or malanga, the plantain or banana, the gandul or guandú, the
beans, sesame, calaloo or okra, and coconut, along with beef,
pork, chicken, fish, and seafood, for prepared according to the
Customs of each country offer a feast of flavors to any palate.
Food in the Caribbean today.
Indigenous eating habits, although very altered, are preserved.
within the Dominican population and without knowing how many calories are needed
to maintain the activity of the changes that the organism must make,
our people continue to consume cassava, sweet potato, corn, yam, yautía, pigeon peas,
sesame, coconut, along with the other products introduced by the French,
the English and the North Americans, as well as the immigrants from the Virgin Islands
who have come to the country as workers harvesting sugarcane from our
ingenious

I will describe the different foods and dishes.

traditional ones from the Caribbean islands, and their usefulness.

Calalú:
In Cuba, Calalú is prepared with flour and pork meat. It is regarded as
food of the divinity of Chango, the god of lightning, thunder, love, virility and
from music. In Haiti, it is called calalú-gombo, it is calalú of the deceased.
There is a soup made from these herbs and other ingredients, and it is consumed.
as part of a ceremony during the Day of the Dead. In the Antilles, it is very
common the "peper-pot" that contains calaloo. In the Islands of Guadeloupe and Trinidad and
Tobago adds okra. The strong Eastern influence makes it flavored.
with soy sauce.
name
With it, 'fufú' is made, which are balls of yam puree. They are also prepared
yam fritters in palm oil, in tamales and steamed.
this tuber is made into puree, flour, atoles, bread, and puddings. In Haiti, when
the abundance of yams is a sign that there will be food in winter and
well-being, is a symbol of fertility and is related to the worship of the
Ancestors. The black yam is known as the yam of Puerto Rico.
Malanga:
The white tiquizque is known as malanga in Cuba. The Africans
they mix the tiquizque and the malanga to make dumplings with yam, bananas and
cassava. It can also be made into a starch substitute for wheat flour.
Arrowroot:
With it, a starch is made that is used to thicken sauces, or to be used in
cake and cookies.
Cassava
Many dishes are prepared such as yuca tamales, arepas,
rolls, atoles, and cookies. A dish called 'bamy' consists of grating the
cassava and let it drain on a cloth to remove the water, it is kneaded with salt
making cakes that are fried in hot oil. They resemble tortillas of
corn but thicker. Other uses include wrapping meat or beans
ground. From the water extracted from the cassava, a starch is obtained, leaving it
to settle in the sun for several days.

Breadfruit
In Africa, it is consumed raw. It is cut into thin slices, coating them.
with butter and are baked. Other ways to prepare it is in puree;
boiling it with coconut milk, butter, and cinnamon; in a drink called atol.
guabul, in soup; blended with milk or cream; in tortillas; chopped; alone with
annatto; with meat, coconut milk, and chili. Jamaicans consume it with
cod and here.
What:
In Jamaica, it has become one of the favorite dishes when made with
cod, known as a national dish. To make it spicy, chili is added.
Panamanian. Today it is exported canned to the United States and Europe.

Okra:
In Cuba, it is called 'quimbombo' or 'quingogno' and is cut into pieces.
covering it with water with a lot of lemon or bitter orange. It is not done in Africa.
in this way and receives the names of wolof, mandinga, bambara. Others
names it receives are okra, lady fingers, bamia, melongene. The okra
Cuban is mixed with various tubers and a wide variety of meats, resulting in
like a thick soup or porridge. The main ingredient of the 'peper-pot'
Jamaican is okra, this includes vegetables, leaves, (callaloo or spinach), included
the dumplings, corn flour tortillas that are added at the end. In Barbados
It is known as 'coo-coo' or a dish to accompany. It is served accompanied.
from the house specialty, steamed fish, and on other islands, it is accompanied
of any meat or fish; among its ingredients are okra flour
corn and butter. This dish is also known in Jamaica and Trinidad.
Tobago. In the Dutch Antilles and Virgin Islands it is called 'funchi' or
fungi, omitting the okras.
Some traditional dishes are:
The rice and peas, in Jamaica, is made with dried red beans together with the
dry legumes as a slave heritage. The mixture of rice and beans is
found in many West African countries, in Nigeria it is served
accompanied by meat or fish. Other variations are found in the south of
United States. Cubans prepare it only for festive occasions.
The smoked meat mixed with cassava and Panamanian chili is called 'bajo'.
prepare by placing a lattice of twigs at the bottom of the container
covering it with banana leaves and taking it to the fire, also adding
certain vegetables, meat, wrapped in leaves that are steamed, all this
the African system is used today.
Conch or lambi, it is the preparation of a mollusk, its meat is softened.
marinating it before cooking, it is used in soups, stews, and salads. Also
they make 'fritters'.
Pickling is the method of cooking fish, chicken, or other meat cooked with
oil and vinegar. In Jamaica, it transformed from 'escovich' to 'caveached fish'.

Cod is consumed in cakes called 'stamp and go'. Before preparing it

It should be soaked in water to remove the saltiness.

In Jamaica, there is a dish called 'run-down' better known as obe.

boil the coconut milk until it turns into flan, then add fish
sour or pickled banana and others, just like in Africa with 'fufu', they
my one with the bread in the sauce.

Each island country of the Caribbean is characterized by having a strong tradition base.
similar, but we can still differentiate each island according to its dishes
typical. We have many dishes like this:

HAITI
Pork is a hard dish: rice and peas, as a national dish.
Pork chop: specially prepared with chili and lemon, served with banana.
Taddot with spicy sauce: served with special sauce.
Pickled herring with moist cassava: dried fish with avocado and
cassava
Reasants: soft drink made from sugar cane.
Pork grill with bananas: I search for roasted pork with spices and bananas.

Palm heart salad: palm heart salad.

PUERTO RICO
Hallacas: made of beef and pork or chicken wrapped in banana leaves.

Asopao: soup made with pork or shrimp.

Your food is based on potatoes, rice, wheat, bananas, cod, beans and little
meat.
JAMAICA
Cho-chos: filled with a mixture of coconut, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

Rum is the most popular alcohol.

Cassava cakes.
Ackee: fish seasoned with spices.
VIRGIN ISLANDS
Fungi: its base is corn and it is served with fish, beef, and vegetables.
CURACAO
Keshi yena: marinated fish with special recipe, cheese, raisins, and others.

BAHAMAS
Conch salad: seafood chopped into pieces, with chili and lemon juice.
Conch chowder: clams, onion, ham, and toasted bread.
Coch Friters: seafood tortilla.
Green turtle pie: turtle pie.
CUBA
Ajiaco: stew of meat, corn, potatoes, cassava, and tubers.
Moors and Christians: rice and beans. It's like 'rice and peas' that
previously I spoke.
Roast suckling pig: for Christmas, it is served whole, roasted and baked.

Congri: comes from Haiti, they are red beans called congo and is accompanied by
rice.
Guenguel: sweet made of ground corn, sugar, and cinnamon.

Aguají: hot sauce with peppers, chili, onions, garlic, and water.
Champola: soursop drink with sugar and milk.
Pru: drink made from aromatic roots with chili, anise, and cinnamon.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Sancocho: a type of Madrid-style stew, with chicken, beef, ham and
chorizo, various types of vegetables and legumes are also added.
Rice with chicken, beans, and roasted pork. It receives the name of the meat that is given to it.
contribution.
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Callao Soup: they are crustaceans, with coconut, spices and seasonings.
The 'sofrito' from Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic is made from
onion, garlic, pepper, tomatoes, and some with bija or annatto to give it color
yellow, similar to the color of the African palm. It is very similar to the
salsa 'ata' that is consumed in Nigeria. The sofrito in the Caribbean is a base for
prepare other food.
Other very common dishes, of English tradition, in this area are the plum.
pudding
and coconut milk). Among the most common beverages we have hibiscus flower,
grated kola nut, lemon grass, cow foot, and lemonade.
Not only the tradition in food preparation is heritage but also
also some activities related to 'eating', such as selling
ambulatory products, by women, distributed in
wooden boards placed on the head, in addition to doing it at a scheduled time
determined. There is a predominance of fat in sauces and stews that
they balance because the other ingredients do not contain as much fat.
The myths surrounding food are many and varied, for example a child
he/she should not eat very sweet foods because they produce worms, nor eggs
why dental cavities occur quickly, and by the time puberty arrives, they do not
should eat foods with an acidic flavor.

"Cold fruits can cause anything from simple colds to tuberculosis, according to the
popular belief, the hot ones from diarrhea to typhoid fever.
They say the little lime causes dysentery; the pineapple, the bananas, the mangoes, and the mamey.
they poison it with milk.
They consider that donkey milk gives strength to weak children; that the broth
cow's feet is a great food; while the woman is breastfeeding the child, it is not
will have new pregnancies.
The African origin of food can be seen in the names and in the
food bases. In America, food was taking for itself creating
different dishes, and specialized according to each plantation.
The loss of a culinary culture is due to oral tradition, as there is no
written testimony and each time a cook died, they stayed with her.
all the culinary secrets and even the knowledge of planting and processing
certain plants. I believe this continues to happen in our homes with our
grandmothers (grandfathers), we believe that they are eternal and we do not have the habit of
let's sit down to write, about everything, in this case about your favorite recipes. Not
it is attributed not only to human knowledge but also to destructive action
towards the nature that causes the disappearance of many plant species
and animals.
The issue of food can be viewed from different perspectives, for
example in the nutritional need of certain populations or due to the loss of
the own culture due to acculturation.
In the first point we find throughout history that Africa and America for
Four centuries established a dependent economy based on slavery or
slave traffic. This cultural impact and economic dependence are the
origins of many problems at social, economic, political, and
cultural, where food and its habits come in. Due to exploitation
that the Caribbean islands suffered, today the population has no land or
technological specialization for cultivation implementing a policy of
cheaper imported products.
This is where transculturation and acculturation come into play. The mass media
communication contributes to transforming the eating habits of people
or on the contrary create a desire to reinforce them, as for example in Puerto
Rich that although it is strongly influenced by the United States, has
sought to maintain their 'creole' food for psychological reasons, patterns
cultural, beliefs, traditions that are entrenched in the communities, are
they reject external customs and prefer to maintain the indigenous ones.

In conclusion, Caribbean cuisine reflects centuries of history from different parts

of the world, that a good moment for some, bad for others, is
they conjugated creating one more element of culture, the FOOD.