Discover More About Our Jamaican Culture And Foods
The genuine warmth of the Jamaican people spills over into the welcoming exuberance for guests at resorts and guest houses. So some of our hosts are keen on their guests having an exceptional stay that they go above and beyond. Unfortunately, as a result, it isn’t easy to make personal time for themselves. They’re givers, sometimes going the extra mile. That said, let’s discover more about our Jamaican culture and foods.
Discover More About Our Jamaican Culture And Foods
The saying you must live culture to understand it is authentically Jamaican. Food in Jamaica is a melting pot of cultural influences that identifies with the islands’ natural bounty of fruits, spices and ocean-fresh seafood. Here are our top picks for authentic Jamaican cuisine:
Some Authentic Jamaican Cuisine
Discover More About Jamaican Herbs And Spices
As intimated above, Jamaican cuisine influences the many cultures on the island. Our motto, “Out Of Many One People”, speaks of our diverse nationalities, Oriental, African, Indian, Spanish, Jewish, and European. Of course, over decades, there has been an intermingling of the races to evolve the people named Jamaicans.
With the many races on the island, the different culinary flavours also blend to distinguish our authentic Jamaican cuisine. The island of Jamaica cultivates most of the herbs and spices unique to the dishes we enjoy. We produce pimento, ginger, nutmeg, thyme, onion, scotch bonnet pepper, scallion(green onion), and cinnamon.
Jamaica’s World-renowned Jerk Culture And Foods
You can jerk any meat! However, the traditional ‘meats’ for jerking are chicken, beef, pork, and seafood. Today, the scope is expanding to jerking vegetables, goat meat, eggs, and more. The spicier, the better with the blend of herbs and spices, creating either a dry rub or wet marinade.
The rub or marinade contains garlic, pimento, scotch bonnet pepper- indigenous to Jamaica/hot in flavour, thyme, ginger, black pepper, scallion, onion, salt, garlic powder, and nutmeg.
The meat is rubbed with a dry rub and left to marinade for a few hours or overnight. The grilling is over coals mixed with pimento wood to achieve that smoky flavour. Jerk is served mainly with white hard-dough bread, cornmeal festival-johnny cakes, French fries, and a creamy, spicy sauce. If you are making jerk for dinner, it goes well with Jamaican Rice-and-Kidney beans, potato salad and a tossed salad. It also goes down well with a cold Red Stripe Beer.
Curried Goat Meat And More/ Jamaica’s Indian Culture
Our ethnic blend of the Indian culture translates into our embracing their best spice, curry. So we curry goat meat, chicken, beef, and curry white rice, eggs and seafood, like shrimp and lobster. The spice is so versatile there is no wrong way to use it. As part of the discover Jamaican culture and foods, it is no surprise we consider curry as a staple in any kitchen on the island.
The curry powder contains spices like cloves, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, caraway, ajowan seeds, dried basil, mustard seeds, mace, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, saffron or cinnamon, and turmeric. They are powered and blended in specific measurements to arrive at authentic flavours.
When cooking with curry, some people may heat the oil in a saucepan and burn the curry a bit. Others will rub the powder on whatever meat they are cooking. Then, salt, garlic, onion, thyme, and scotch bonnet pepper are added to the dish- as most Jamaicans enjoy a curry with scotch bonnet pepper, black pepper, and coconut milk. Finally, you generally eat it with white rice.
Ackee And Saltfish/Codfish Jamaica’s National Dish
Ackee and Saltfish is an authentic Jamaican dish. It is our national dish. Although we do not produce salt fish, we have incorporated it into our culture. The tree is not indigenous to Jamaica, a gift from West Africa during slavery. And the fruit is also the national fruit of the island.
Pick the ackee when it ripens from the tree. It grows in a thick red pod, and when ripe, it opens, revealing shiny black seeds and yellow or cream-coloured fruit. The fruit contains a red inner membrane you take out along with the black seed.
How To Cook Ackee And Saltfish An Authentic Jamaican food
Preparing ackee and Saltfish is simple. You can soak the Saltfish in water overnight to eliminate the excess salt. Or, in a rush, you can boil to get out the salt. Boil the ackee in clean water until soft, which takes about 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes. Always discard the water you boil the ackee in, as it is not wholesome to use for anything else.
Remove the bones from the Saltfish and flake the flesh; however, you must flake the meat if you use fillets. Saute chopped onions, scallion, tomato, green pepper, and garlic. Add the codfish to the sauteed herbs and gently mix in the ackee. Add salt and black pepper to taste. This dish is delicious with Johnny cakes, cornmeal festival, bammy- a cassava cake, or white rice.
Ackee and Saltfish pair well in Jamaica at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is a restaurant menu item and a favourite of vacationers in the tourism sector.
Escovitch Fish- From Our Spanish-Jewish Culture
Another dish infused into our Jamaican culture is Escovitch Fish. The dish is from our Spanish/Jewish ethnic blends and is a main dish during the Easter celebrations.
The perfect fish for making this dish is Red Snapper. However, there are other fish that you can use, depending on what you like. First, the fish is pat dry with a paper towel and season with salt and black pepper. It is then fried whole until crisp. Next, drain the oil as much as possible and top with pickled vegetables of onions cut in a circular shape, julienne carrots, pimento, scotch bonnet pepper, and white vinegar. The dish is served in a baking tray to contain the pickle, as you may need to turn the fish to enable total and quick absorption of the vegetable pickle.
Escovitch fish is delicious with cornmeal festival, cassava cakes-Bammy, or Johnny cakes.
How To Make Cornmeal Festival
Pepperpot Soup Jamaican Style
Not because Jamaica is a tropical island, but it does not mean we are afraid of enjoying a nice steaming bowl of homemade soup. And Pepperpot Soup is one such soup we want as a meal.
The recipe contains pickled pig’s tail, corned beef, callaloo or spinach, carrots, sweet potato, water, dasheen, okra, small flower dumplings, and coconut milk. Dice all ingredients into cubes and add to the water on boiling, except the dumplings. They are put in last with the coconut milk and left to simmer. And, to flavour, add salt, black pepper, scotch bonnet pepper, fresh thyme, chopped garlic, and scallion.
Conclusion
All the above dishes are ideal for lunch, dinner, or breakfast. However, Jamaican style and culture dictate you have the meal whenever you desire. Our tastebuds are familiar with enjoying these dishes at any time. We embrace our uniqueness as a people with the mix of ethnic cultures which we have made ours. Come and discover the Jamaican culture and foods. Come and see what it means to partake of these delicious dishes- while enjoying the warm sun and breathtakingly beautiful island paradise!
Source:
1. https://www.britannica.com/topic/jerk-chicken
2. https://rawspicebar.com/blogs/spices-101/what-is-curry
3. https://jis.gov.jm/information/symbols/jamaican-national-fruit-ackee/
4. https://jamaicanfoodsandrecipes.com/jamaican-escovitch-fish-recipe/
5. https://jamaicans.com/jamaican-pepperpot-soup-recipe/
