Caribbean: Cuisine and Recipes
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Rice, cornmeal porridge and starchy root vegetables form the foundation of many of the Caribbean region's meals, while fresh vegetables and tropical fruits add flavor and nutrients to dishes. Chicken, pork, goat and seafood are the favored proteins in most of island nations around Caribbean.
Cuisines of the Caribbean
Caribbean Island Recipes and Cuisine
The word creole, taken in its meaning of "mixture," fits most Caribbean cooking. Pre-Columbian Arawak and Taino people subsisted on the fruits of the sea and starchy cassava root. Imperial designs, slavery and merchant immigration brought succeeding influence from the British, Spanish, French, Dutch, African, Indian and Chinese. Read more »
Cuba: Recipes and Cuisine
Cuban cuisine is built around rice, beans, vegetables, chicken, pork and tropical fruits. While cooking on the island has become austere under Castro, the expatriate community in southern Florida has kept Cuban cuisine alive and vibrant. La cocina cubana, like most Caribbean cooking, has been influenced by a wide variety of sources — Spanish, African, Taino, even Chinese. Sofrito and alcaparrado season many dishes. Ropa vieja, moros y cristianos, paella, Cuban sandwiches and roast pork are popular dishes. Read more »
Haiti: Cuisine and Recipes
Haitian cuisine is kréyol cuisine, a mixture of French, African, Spanish and indigenous cooking methods, ingredients and dishes. Rice and beans (dire ak pwa) are a staple. Vegetable and meat stews are popular too. Goat, beef, chicken and fish are complemented with plantains, cabbage, tomatoes and peppers. Fiery Scotch bonnet peppers lend their punch to many dishes, and to pikliz, a popular pickled vegetable condiment. Read more »
Jamaica: Cuisine and Recipes
Ackee, pawpaw, jerk, stamp-and-go...the cuisine of Jamaica is as fun to say as it is to eat! Cooking on this Caribbean island has been influenced by immigration from several areas of the world — Africa, Asia, Europe — as well as by the Arawaks, Jamaica's original inhabitants. The result is spicy, nourishing food with a powerful punch of flavor. Read more »
Puerto Rico: Cuisine and Recipes
Puerto Rico is a lush, tropical jewel set in the middle of the sun-drenched Caribbean. This island nation, actually a self-governing territory of the United States, is home to a rich culinary tradition known to natives as cocina criolla. The popularity of Puerto Rican cooking reaches beyond the island's shores to a large Boricua immigrant population in New York and other American cities. Read more »
