Jamaica foods are absolutely delicious!

Do Jamaica foods? Absolutely! Experiencing the culinary delights of a country is as much an important part of your vacation as is choosing the right hotel.

On the island of Jamaica, food is a major asset that sets a clear distinction for the country. In fact, you would be hard pressed to find a Jamaican anywhere that does not know how to cook.

Here’s a brief journey into Jamaica foods that I hope you’ll find both enjoyable and informative reading.

In Jamaica’s local cuisine, a number of popular food items dominate both the home cooked and restaurant scenes.

These popular foods consist of beef/steak, mutton (Goat Meat), pork, chicken and seafood such as shrimp, crab, lobster, conch and fish.

You can expect to see many different styles of preparation for the same food item, mainly within budget restaurants across Jamaica.

I have often gone into these restaurants and enquired about what’s on the menu only to be told fried chicken, brown stew chicken, curry chicken, baked chicken and roast chicken!

Meat items or di-saal-ting; as said in Jamaican patois are often accompanied by either rice and red peas or white rice along with some form of ground provision (Mainly yellow yam), raw and/or cooked vegetables and Jamaican pasta.

Unlike other destinations where you can easily dine across an entire island during your stay, in Jamaica you most likely will not have this legacy.

Why? Jamaica foods are delicious! Such that dining only once at a restaurant is never enough; therefore you can end up returning to your special eatery time and again to try out just about everything that is featured on the menu.

Additionally, Jamaica is also larger than your average Caribbean island which makes driving between resort towns a bit of a stretch.

When you dine in Jamaica, you can definitely expect your palate to be excited and your culinary senses of taste, smell and sight heightened!

Ackee and Saltfish and Jerk Chicken

Make sure you try out the national dish of ackee and saltfish. It is rumored that Jamaica is the only country in the world where the ackee fruit or blighia sapida is eaten.

There is an even greater rumor that if ackee is eaten raw, you can become poisoned; well I know for a fact that this is not true. I have been eating raw ackee since I was a baby, and I still do today; obviously I’m still alive.

In preparing the national dish, ackee is boiled with Salt Fish (This is actually Cod fish salted and dried). After boiling the fish is broken up into smaller pieces and together with the cooked ackee, is fried up with a mixture of vegetables and garden fresh seasonings, including scallion, onion, tomato, sweet pepper, thyme and pepper. A spicy powdery seasoning called black pepper is also used to sprinkle over ackee and salffish when being prepared.

Mainly used as a breakfast item, ackee and Salt Fish is commonly served up with fry dumpling, roast breadfruit, yam and banana.

You also should try out Jamaica’s jerk chicken; absolutely delicious! In the preparation of jerk chicken, the meat is placed on a specially built grill where it is monitored over a raw fire until prepared.

Whenever I travel away from Jamaica for an extended period, jerk chicken is the food item that I miss the most.

There is also jerk sausage which I also find totally delicious and jerk pork if you rather.

That is my take on Jamaica foods. Eat well!

Before you go though, here are some Jamaica restaurants that you can try out during your stay on the island.

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