The Culinary World – Traditional Jamaican Breakfast Dishes

Today's Jamaican cuisine is the result of a mixture of Spanish, British, African, Indian, and Chinese influences. When Christopher Columbus arrived on the island in the 15th century, Jamaica did not abound in edible plants. Among its fruits were pineapples, sugar apples, guava, and caimito. In the 16th century, Jamaica became a Spanish colony, and a hundred years later, it passed into the hands of the British. For hundreds of years, Jamaica was a thriving sugarcane plantation. Later, most of the banana plants grown in Jamaica were added to the flavor of the coconut crops grown in other countries. In the 18th century, the African influence brought the ackee fruit to Jamaica. Today, tourists admire the taste of pineapples, bananas, limes, mangoes, avocados, and papayas on Jamaica. Green bananas and plantains are also popular on the island. They are another variety of bananas, much larger than those popular in Europe, often cooked or fried before consumption. Another characteristic product is the breadfruit, a huge fruit growing on a tree, whose pulp after cooking or baking resembles bread in structure and potatoes in taste. The Jamaican equivalent of spinach can be called callaloo - a green leafy vegetable, whose taste, like spinach, goes well with garlic, is a popular addition to meals. The kitchen uses very characteristic spices that grow on Jamaica and are not known outside of it - annatto (of the musk color), bay rum (added to sauces and soups) and jerk (creating a unique taste of the popular dish jerk chicken). Among the animal products, the basis are fish and seafood. Tourists praise the local lobsters and shrimp. Chicken and goat meat are also commonly eaten. Jerk chicken is one of the culinary symbols of Jamaica. This dish is often sold on the streets of cities - grilled in a barrel, chopped with a machete, and served with rice and beans on plastic plates. According to the traditional recipe, the chicken should be marinated in a wet marinade or rubbed with spices on hot, and then slowly baked over a fire made of English herb wood. Today, jerk chicken is also prepared in an oven and on an electric grill. Another popular dish is goat curry, whose name indicates Indo-Chinese origin. Goat meat should be boiled first, and then add spices to it: curry, ginger, hot pepper, garlic, and onion. The creamy dish is served with rice or roti (fried wheat flatbreads). Breakfast on Jamaica is the most important meal of the day. It is abundant and often its preparation begins a day earlier.