It's become a cliché in this website to say that a country's cuisine is the combination of the culinary traditions of the people who came to inhabit it or colonize it, adapted to local ingredients. But nowhere this is more so than in Jamaica, a relatively small island where the most diverse populations from throughout the world have come together - mostly unwillingly - to forge a national identity and a culture which is now recognized the world over. Jamaicans today can trace their ancestors to the original Taino inhabitants, to Africans brought as slaves, and Irish, Indians and Chinese brought as indentured servants. Slaves escaped, mixed with the indigenous people and became Maroons - who in turn gave the world jerked meats. Spanish colonizers came and so did Spanish conversos, former Jews fleeing the Spanish inquisition which did not believe they were honest in their conversions. Later, pirates and British colonists would contribute to the mix. And yes, all left their mark in Jamaican cuisine, which falls very much within the category of Caribbean cuisine, but has many dishes specially developed in the island.
There were ltos of things I could have made for my Jamaican foray, indeed, I could have stayed here and never left, but finally I decided on the following
Other Caribbean Cuisines: Anguillan, Antiguan, Aruban, Bahamian, Bajan, Bermudian, Bonairean, Cayman , Curaçao, Grenadan, Guadeloupean, Haitian.
