JAMAICA
Pepper pot soup, garlicky spiny lobster and jerk spicing
Jamaican cuisine is characterised by abundance. In the southern highlands, hills are covered in mango, papaya and ackee trees. But the natural produce is only one factor in a rich culinary heritage. Arawak, Spanish, English, African, Indian, Middle Eastern and Chinese populations have all left their mark here. ‘Better belly buss dan good food wase’ (Better belly burst than good food go to waste) could be the national slogan.
Treasure Beach, on Jamaica’s underpopulated south coast, tempts with wide black sand beaches and year-round sunny, blue skies. It’s the ideal place to sample some fine Jamaican cooking. A few dollars at any of the breezy eateries lining the beach road buys a huge plate of succulent goat curry, sweet and tangy brown stew chicken, or escoveitched fish that has been fried and marinated in vinegar, peppers and spices.
Jamaicans adore soup: thick, rich pumpkin; callaloo (made with leafy greens); pepper pot; and fish tea, a broth with chunks of sweet fish, peppers and potatoes. A plate of rice and peas rounds out every meal, followed by a scoop of Devon House I Scream.
Little Ochie is one of the best seafood spots on the island. It’s the kind of no-frills place that locals plan a whole day around, turning the music up and driving three hours from Kingston to feast on freshly caught seafood. Order spiny lobster in Scotch bonnet-laced garlic sauce and cool your mouth with bammies (steamed cassava pancakes) and ice-cold Red Stripe lager.
After 43 years at the top of its game, Dickie’s Best Kept Secret is no longer as clandestine as it once was and booking is essential. You’ll be asked to specify fish or chicken before you arrive, and apart from that, you’re in Dickie’s hands. Expect five courses of classics such as callaloo omelette and prawn-stuffed tomatoes.
A giant of Jamaica’s culinary offering is jerk and some of the most authentic restaurants can be found in Montego Bay. Jerk makers vary their ingredients and guard their recipes fiercely. At Scotchies, sides of pork, spatchcocked chickens and silvery snapper smoulder on aromatic pimento branches for four hours and are the hottest, yet most addictive thing you’ll eat.
Jamaica may have achieved more fame for exports of a non-culinary nature but food is the heart and soul of this country. The cooking is as vibrant, seductive and hot as the tropical sun.