The African Heritage
The plantation owners provided their slaves with scarce rations of marinated rice, codfish and meat, peas and dried kidney beans. Just in few cases they had small parcels to cultivate products that could serve to complement their poor meals. However, those miserable food rations are the roots of the present delicious dishes. Each island has their own way of preparing rice and peas, usually adding salt pig or beef, and then seasoning it with shallots and thyme. The fish pies are prepared with flour and fish seasoned with peppers and other herbs that are fried after shaking. The result is a dish of wonderful smell and taste.

Slaves cultivated thyme, marjoram, rosemary, mint, sage, shallots and red peppers to season their food. Now, each island dresses food their own way, though almost never onions, garlic and peppers are missing. Likewise, each place has their own diversity of a pepper sauce, so hot that visitors should taste it cautiously.

Fried, roasted or stewed chicken, roasted or stewed pig, the dressed pig head, the tail, chops and legs, and also an entire grilled pig, are other of the traditional dishes of this region, prepared specially at weekends or for some celebration. Almost the entire pig is eatable, and each island has their own way to cook a black pudding, based on the animal’s intestines, refilled with the pig’s blood mixed with sweet potatoes and some herbs as condiment.

Cooking With Only One Pot  
Many of the Caribbean cuisine dishes are cooked outdoors, over fire, using only one pot. Following this technique, a great diversity of delicious soups are prepared. Most famous are those based on peas, pumpkin, fish, peanuts or crabs. There is also a very typical soup based on tubercles and fresh vegetables. Some other dishes prepared this way are those with rice or ñame, adding any kind of vegetables, condiments, fish, beef or chicken. The result of such peculiar combinations of herbs and species are some delicious stews.
A very interesting story about the Caribbean cuisine is that when the first Europeans arrived to the islands, Amerindians cooked their food identically as it was done in western Africa, thousands of kilometers far away. For example, the cou cou- boiled mashed corn forming a thick paste - is so much Caribbean as African. Still today you can enjoy this delicious food that usually is served with fresh or preserved fish, or stewed beef.

The Sweet Caribbean Desserts
Since in the XVII century, Europeans started to plant sugar cane, Caribbeans have developed a particular taste for sweet desserts. The combination of sugar and tropical fruits created delicious desserts like tamarind balls, the guava cheese, coconut cakes, and some candies prepared with the grapefruit skin. The marmalades of lime, orange and all kinds of fruits, as well as the guava and nutmegs gelatins, prepared in this region are of an extraordinary quality; besides the golden crystals of the Caribbean sugar give them an unmatched and unmistakable flavor.

The most traditional desserts come from the combination of the British legacy and the Caribbean style; as bread and butter pudding, the delicious fruitcake sprinkled with rum, coconut and banana bread, chocolate pudding and coconut pie. Many restaurants of these islands offer in their menu, their own version of the delicious coconut cake.

European Flavors
The cuisine of each island differs considering which country colonized them. The French took with them the exquisite cakes of their pâtisserie. The stuffed crabs and the fish stews cooked with tomatoes and herbs, have clear Provence reminiscence. Other dishes with French origins are snail shells, frog legs, which are called in Dominica “mountain chickens”.

The jug jug, a stew usually served at Christmas, as well as a very peculiar version of haggis, a typical Scottish roasted lamb dish, brought to Barbados by the Scots escaping to this island after the Monmouth rebellion failed in 1685.

The Spaniards brought to Trinidad, a delicious legacy of their favorite dishes: pastilles (meat and corn boiled served over a banana leaf), escoviche (pickled fish), buljol (codfish sauce, tomatoes, lime, pepper, garlic and avocado), to mention only some of them. Years later, Indian and Chinese food arrived to Trinidad, thanks to the many immigrants of Asian roots. In competition with the American hamburgers you can find, in many places of the region, restaurants offering roti (thick curry wrapped up in a chapati). On the other side, Chinese food here has evolved towards a delicious style, because the traditional dishes of this far eastern country have mixed with ingredients of the region.

The dishes from the Dutch islands enjoy the Indonesian food savor, due to the relation between the Netherlands and the Far East. As you can see, Caribbean food is so diverse as their people’s origins. The sun, fertile lands, waters full of all kinds of animal species, and the creative genius of generations of chefs from different cultures and races, make their cuisine an authentic festival of exotic savors.

A good exchange
During the first islands exploration and colonization years, there was an important exchange of agricultural products. Caribbean offers the world the following food: pineapple, peppers, avocado, potato, sweet potato, and tomato, just to name some of the most famous native food. In exchange, the world returned the favor with lots of fruits, vegetables and herbs that are now part of their gastronomy, such as mango, lime, orange, banana, coffee, sugar cane, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, thyme, parsley and coconut.

Grapefruit
Though, most of the citric fruits came from the Pacific region, grapefruit developed in Barbados during the XVIII century. This fruit is a mixture of sweet orange and a bitter citric called shaddock, from the captain’s name that brought it from Polynesia. 

Refreshing drinks
These islands have plenty of fruits, which is why refreshing juices are served everywhere. Mauby is a sour-sweet drink made from tree’s bark, and sorrel is made from dry red flowers of a tree (hibisco), typical at Christmas time.