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 and livestock 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,Del olvido a la memoria: africanos y afromestizos en la historia colonial de Centroamérica (in Spanish: From Oblivion to Memory: Afromestizos in African and Central American colonial history). 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 Development of the cuisine Taíno and Arawak influences
The Indigenous inhabitants of Jamaica, the Taínos, developed dishes such as jerk meats, roasted fish, bammy, cassava bread, callaloo (made with native amaranth) 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 kept a stockpot in which meat, fish and vegetables were collected for soup. The Taínos also made intoxicating drinks from cassava and maize, as well as, a tree-bark based drink known for its health benefits, called mauby, which was also made with mâ'bi, the Arawak word for red sweet potato.
Many native crops and local staples, such as peppers (Scotch bonnet, cayenne pepper and other cultivars) and beans (like kidney beans) were taken to Jamaica in canoes from Mesoamerica, along with maize, sweet potato, cashew, cacao and cassava. They also cultivated chayote (cho cho), arrowroot, kenep (guinep), mammee apple, coco, squash, pumpkin, yam (yampi or cush-cush yam), peanut, guava, potato, pineapple, starapple, papaya, soursop, naseberry, custard apple, sweetsop and other native crops. According to historian, James Delbourgo, the brewing of cocoa beans, which led to the recipe for chocolate milk and traditional Jamaican chocolate tea, was practiced by the Taínos, as far back as 1494.
Cooking techniques such as jerking, grilling, roasting, smoking and barbecuing, as well as, the use of earth ovens, charcoal, pimento wood, plantain or banana leaves and corn husks in cooking, can be traced back to them. They often wrapped meats in papaya leaves to tenderize them. Food colouring with annatto was inherited from the Taínos, as were calabash (gourd) bowls and utensils, and tools which were used to grind cocoa beans, corn, and cassava for flour and bammy the traditional way. These include stone and wooden mortars, pestles, grinders and graters called metate, mano and guaio/guayo, a long funnel-shaped basket called a matapi, used for extracting cassava juice, and a flat earthenware griddle (burén) used for baking cassava breads.
Spanish and Portuguese influences
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, cacao, 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 and pea 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, Jamaican Spanish rice, stews like brown stew meats (chicken, pork, cow foot, 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, steamed and fried fish, saltfish fritters 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. By the 1700s, saltfish, also called "the faithful friend" in Portuguese cuisine, was not only consumed as a cheap, accessible source of protein, as it had become a staple food for most Portuguese people, including the upper echelons of society — like escoveitch, it has been a dietary mainstay during Lent and other holy days. The Jamaican patty, a pasty or empanada-styled turnover filled with spiced meat was influenced by the Spanish and Cornish. Sweets like peanut drops/cake, coconut drops, peanut brittle and grater cake have Portuguese and Spanish influences, as well as, African and Middle Eastern influences.
Cooking and preservation techniques which include stewing, frying, brining, pickling and curing meats were also influenced by the Spaniards.
African influences
Influences from African cuisine developed on the island as a result of waves of slavery and indentureship, which can be found in dishes like okra, taro and callaloo— made with indigenous amaranth grown and used by the Taínos, and comparable to the Angolan dish calulu. Along with the Europeans and Indians, Africans contributed to the cultivation of rice,West, Jean M. cow peas and pigeon peas (known as 'gungo' locally) in the Americas, which are key ingredients in some local dishes. While some crops were taken from Africa on ships by the Europeans, it is believed that enslaved Africans also brought seeds of plants which they grew, such as African rice, kola nut (bissy), sesame, watermelon, bonavist beans and sorrel. 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, rice and peas, 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 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. Sorrel drink, one of Jamaica's Christmas mainstays, has African and Chinese influences. It is primarily consumed as a tea and spice-infused drink, which is sometimes combined with rum. Also, sorrel is used in a variety of Jamaican products like beers, sauces, glazes, ice-creams, cakes and other desserts. Its popularity has spread to Latin America and Mexican communities in North America, where the drink is called agua de Jamaica, flor de Jamaica, rosa de Jamaica or Jamaica. Red drink, as it is called in Black American communities, has also been adopted as part of Juneteenth celebrations. A popular Jamaican sweet called Bustamante backbone or stagga back can be traced back to the Africans, along with the names of foods like "asham", "duckunoo" and "gungo".
In the past, tools like the wooden mortar and pestle were used to grind dried and roasted coffee and cocoa beans, while clay pots called 'yabba' were used for mixing cakes or puddings and seasoning or salting meats—both of which have African origins.
English, Irish and Scottish influences
Baked goods like puddings, rock cake, sponge cakes, fruit cakes, muffins, breads, pies, biscuits 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 like confectioneries and gelatin desserts, teas, macaroni and cheese, and some colonial era Creole dishes have British influences. Sunday roast variations which include pot roast meats, potato and vegetables, as well as, breakfast dishes which include baked beans (adopted from Native Americans by the British), are made in Jamaica. British influences can be seen in the way Jamaicans prepare dinners for holidays and Sundays. Irish moss and porridges were influenced by the Irish and Scottish respectively. 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. Additionally, the introduction and development of beers like stout, porter and ale can be traced back to the British.Bamforth, Charles (2009). Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing. Oxford University Press. p. 65. Their influence can be found in Jamaica's toffee-like sweet, Bustamante backbone.
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, were introduced to Belize and the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Honduras, Guatemala and San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina.
Indian influences
During the period of indentureship other labourers migrated to Jamaica from India, China, Germany and the Azores in Portugal. Consequently, East Indian influences can be found in Jamaican cuisine like roti, lentil dishes like dhal and a variety of ginger and curried dishes. The Indians brought curry and turmeric to Jamaica, which have been modified to create Jamaican curry powder, a key ingredient in dishes such as curried goat/mutton, chicken and seafood (shrimp, lobster, crab, fish and conch). Indian influences can also be found in eggplant dishes, pelau, pickled unripe mango (with salt and pepper), roasted saltfish choka, takari dishes (with potato, mango and pumpkin), pholourie and sweets which have been modified like gulgula and khurma. Along with spices, they brought jackfruit, plums, tamarind, banyan, neem and bilimbi (also called 'kamranga' locally)— which is pickled and served as a relish.