The complete guide to the delicious Jamaican food

This Jamaican food guide will take you through the most delicious flavors of the Jamaican food tradition, the best in the Caribbean, and one of the best in the world, in my opinion.

I lived in Jamaica for more than one year, and I fell in love with the food. I didn’t even miss at all my good  Italians habits, although a good pizza every now and then would have been appreciated.🤣

But why is Jamaican food so good? I am not sure if they add a specific spice or flavor to their cooking process, but it has a very special taste that I miss a lot now that I don’t live there anymore.

Anyway, my intention here is to guide you through Jamaican specialties, but before that, I would like to give you a list of local products from Mother Earth, some of which are endemic to here and you wouldn’t find them anywhere else or in very few places, and others are typical of the Caribbean region.

In this post from my colleague Cassie, you can find a guide on Caribbean food.

delicious Jamaican food: Fruits and Veggies

I loved driving around Jamaica and stopping by the street vendors, where I found the freshest fruits and veggies, straight from the ground, beautifully displayed on handmade wooden stalls. It was an outburst of colors and genuine food for the soul. That was my fruit and veg supermarket. In Negril, there is a lady in downtown on the way to Sav la mar, and many others are scattered around the island on the main roads, but the most beautiful is on the way to Port Antonio from Ocho Rios. Here’s the list of fruits and veggies.

MANGOES

Everybody knows mangos, but watch out for the Julie mango quality, bigger and more pulpy  and juicy, while the regular one, yellow-orange, is smaller and full of strings that stick between your teeth

PAPAYA

In Jamaica, papayas are small, sweet, and delicious all year round, differing from those found in Mexico, which are much bigger but not always as tasty.

JACK FRUIT

It is a huge green/yellowish fruit, very heavy, very, very smelly when you open it, but I love it. The meat is a bit chewy, but sweet, and it’s very nutritious. It has big seeds stuck in the pulp.

BREAD FRUIT

It resembles a green banana when still immature, but grows into a perfect green ball when mature and ready to fall from the tree. They cook it on a stove, leaving the skin to burn, and then peel it off. The dry and thick pulp has the consistency of bread or a soft potato.

It is then cut into slices, fried or toasted, and typically used to accompany the main meal. It’s total carbs, but natural ones. Sometimes you will find it as a snack made like chips. Delicious.

PEAR

You might already know this, but in Jamaica, they call it a pear under the name of Avocado, which makes sense since it has the same shape. This is what I call healthy fat. And after I found out that natural veggie fats are good for health and diet.. well, I am eating one avocado a day 🙂 When I can, of course.

ACKEE

This is the Jamaican thing – the national fruit, ackee, and saltfish (see below for the dish). Although it is not endemic, it has been imported from West Africa, but it is now distributed only in and from Jamaica, to my knowledge. 

It’s a fruit, as it grows in trees and has seeds, but it is eaten as a vegetable. Its seed is actually poisonous, and it needs to be extracted properly before eating the fruit, which is when the fruit spontaneously opens. Only then is it ready to be cleaned and cooked.   

You don’t have to worry about that because they sell it already cleaned in case you want to cook it; otherwise, you can go to a restaurant and you are sure it’s done in the best way. I was just explaining what it is ( actually, see the top picture).

Jamaicans usually eat it with salt fish for breakfast, which is a little heavy for me but I have tried it and it’s just delicious, although I prefer to have it for lunch or dinner 🙂 You know, we Italians are weird like that. They also sell it in a can, and it is one of the most exported products in Jamaica.

CALALOO

Another super healthy veggie, very frequently used in Jamaica! It’s like a sort of spinach but a little tastier. It’s eaten sautéed to accompany main dishes, just like any other vegetable. The majority of the time it is a little too spicy for me. But I love it.

SUGAR CANE

In the past, before the introduction of refined sugar, the sugar cane was the major exported product of the whole Caribbean island – they used to have huge plantations that you can still see. From the pulp, they make all sorts of stuff, among which is the molasses to make Rum.

But also, they used to press the sugar cane and drink the juice, which is one of the sweetest things I have ever tasted. You will still see street vendors with their own machine to smash sugarcane and sell the juice, or you will see people eating and chewing sticks of the plant. You should try one.

BANANAS AND GREEN AND YELLOW PLANTAIN

It is mainly present in the Portland area as it was intensively cultivated in the colonial times, when in other parts of the island and other regions the main product was sugarcane, and from here the colonies exported bananas. The fruit remains the most cultivated in the area, despite no longer being exported. 

Then there are different kinds of bananas. The green plantain is a small variety of plantain that is boiled and eaten as a side dish, similar to rice or bread, and is commonly served for breakfast but also during other meals. The yellow one is fried, and it is sometimes available in the form of chips.  Delicious 🙂 good source of carbs.

YAM

Somebody told me that one of the best fuel for Jamaican athletes is yam I am not sure about it but it is definitely better than pasta as a natural source of carbohydrates. It’s like a yellowish potato of the family of tubers, like cassava, sweet potato, and the regular potato, all of them well consumed in Jamaica.

If you are driving around Jamaica, you should stop at one of the most famous road shacks where local vendors will roast yams and hand them to you with butter, a delish! It’s on the main road between Mandeville and Savanna La Mar, on the south coast.

COCONUT 

On this, I should write a separate article because there is so much to say. Let’s say first that there are different types of Coconut. The hard and the soft. This last one is the youngest and is mostly consumed for drinks. They cut the top with a machete, smooth the surface, and drink it directly from the Nut. Some tourists prefer to use a straw, and that’s okay, but I suggest drinking it up straight. (besides, straws are a huge contaminating factor).

The best part comes when you finish drinking it. They cut the coconut in half and scoop away the pulp, which you can eat, delicious and nutritious. Watch them because it is an art. They use the remaining half of the coconut as a plate and leave you the pulp on top of that for you to eat. OR they slice of a part of the nut for you to use as a scoop to dig into the pulp and eat it.

That’s my favorite. This is not only in Jamaica. It’s a Caribbean thing, and we also do it in Mexico. The hard coconut is mostly used for cooking purposes; they make flower or coconut rays, and make delicious coconut desserts, cakes, or biscuits.

PINEAPPLE

Although it originates in Brazil, the Pineapple is very popular in Jamaica, and you can also buy it on the road and see how they artistically cut it into perfectly clean slices without touching the pulp, for you to eat. I would buy it just to see them doing it.

PASSION FRUIT

A particularly sour fruit; sometimes you also find it on the road.

OKRA

It’s a green vegetable that resembles little pipes with small seeds inside. Not everybody is a fan of this veggie, at least I am not, since when you cook it, it produces a sort of slimy juice which feels kind of funny in the mouth.. but maybe that’s just me 🙂

GUAVA

When it’s guava season, you can find it everywhere. It blooms almost all year round, but especially in spring when warmer weather kicks in.

CASSAVA

Cassava is another root vegetable, which is also called yucca, tapioca, or manioc. It originates in Brazil, but the Jamaican variety is a very popular root as it grows in less fertile grounds very easily. It resembles the sweet potato or yams and is commonly eaten fried, boiled, or processed to create cassava flour. This flour is then mixed with water to form a dough, which is cooked to make cassava flatbreads.

SOURSOP

It is known as the cancer-killer fruit most of all, for its properties, among other qualities. I haven’t verified that, but it’s definitely a tasty, sweet fruit, either in juice or by eating the pulp. It’s native in Latin America and widespread all over the Caribbean and Mexico.

GUINEP

You might see kids on the road selling branches of small, rounded green stuff it. Those are the guinep fruits. You open the little balls’ kernels with your teeth and suck the sour juice out of them until the only thing left in your mouth is the dry seed, which you will spit out. A little gross, but that’s the jungle style :).

SORREL

It’s the Christmas fruit, but it’s common all year round, and they make a tea out of their dry leaves, while the mild, sweet fruit looks like an apple, but lighter and eaten like any fruit.

SWEET APPLE

Gosh! How many of those have I eaten? It’s a brown, rounded fruit, kind of ugly from the outside; it needs to be really, really soft when ripe. You just squeeze the top and bottom extremities, and it should open perfectly in two. Please take out the black seeds and eat it up (not the skin of course). So sweet and delicious.

MAMEY

The Jamaican mamey is native to the West Indies and northern South America, although it mainly grows spontaneously in the Bahamas and St Croix. It’s a thick, brown-skinned fruit, oval-shaped with dark, bright orange pulp. It’s very sweet and rich in nutrition. One of those makes a meal. It’s really satisfying for the belly.

SCOTCH BONNET PEPPER

Pure fire in your mouth! If you love hot sauce, go for it if you don’t, stay away. What I love is the multicolored field of the pepper; the fruit is small and sort of rounded, and it grows red, green, and yellow.  A pleasure to look at.

JAMAICAN FOOD: BEST DISHES

ACKEE AND SALTFISH

This is my favorite dish ever (see the head picture, served with johnnycakes).  I would eat it every day if it were not so heavy. It’s done sautéed with onion and tomatoes, and saltfish, of course. The ackee is boiled first and then mixed together in a pan. There is also a vegetarian (lighter) version without fish, just the ackee and some other veggies; it especially comes served with calaloo, which is cooked just like sautéed spinach.

JERK CHICKEN or PORK

The jerk is the name of the sauce, an explosive mix of spices in which the meat has been previously marinated before being grilled. It’s kind of art! The chicken or pork is already slightly spicy, but for the authentic jerk flavor, you’ll need to add more sauce, which is provided on the side.

STEWED PORK or CHICKEN

It’s a more regular version of the chicken or pork, it’s cut into pieces and cooked in a sort of tomato and different vegetable sauce. It comes in a brownish color, very savory, and not so spicy.

CURRY GOAT

This is one of Jamaica’s favorite dishes. Goat meat has a robust flavour and not everybody is fond of it. The curry adds a little extra flavor. If you like to experiment, this is a very rich plate. Served with salad, rice, and peas.

OXTAIL STEW

It’s not considered a fine cut anywhere in the world, although I remember having eaten it as a child in Italy. For sure, it is a very popular finger-licking dish in Jamaica, stewed with other vegetables and, of course, served with rice and peas.

STEAMED FISH

It’s a whole fish, usually a snapper, cooked in a vegetable broth. If you are sensitive about eating the whole fish, don’t take it. Otherwise, this is another popular dish that is often eaten with salted crackers.

RICE AND PEAS

It was a little weird for me to see that rice and peas is a side order included in the main course, because in Italy we have risotto as a first course or sometimes the only one (in the modern diet) –  Almost everywhere in the world, is eaten on the side and in Jamaica, especially, rice and peas is never missing. I love the distinct flavor imparted by the coconut milk used for cooking. It’s unique and delicious.

BOILED DUMPLING

Just water and flour mixed and boiled in salted water. They eat it together with main courses, as in the picture above. It’s a substitute for bread. Love it

FRIED PLANTAIN

In every Jamaican plate, there will always be two pieces of fried plantain. I always keep it for last and eat it as a dessert. In fact, it is sweet. It looks like a banana, but itis a different kind. It’s called green plantain, and it’s cooked either by boiling or frying. This one on the plate is fried.

FRIED DUMPLINGS, FESTIVALS & JOHNNY CAKES –

A sort of fried kind of bread that normally accompanies the main meal as a side dish.  There is some controversy about the differences between the three versions, as I don’t recall their exact meanings. I have asked around, and I got different explanations. Sure, they are all delicious; however, the Johnny cakes and festivals are sweet, while the fried dumplings are salty. The Johnny cakes should have cornflour in addition to white flour, and they are round-shaped, while the festivals are long, finger-shaped. They are all fried and unhealthy, but a great treat for sure. 🙂

PUMPKIN SOUP

Very common in some restaurants to receive a small cup as a starter, as a courtesy. It’s very creamy and most often very spicy. Delicious.

CONCH SOUP

Spicy!! and delicious.. It’s a broth with vegetables and boiled conch bits. Most often, it is sold by the street vendors, on the road, and at the entrance of nightclubs.

CONCH STAKE

Another favorite of mine. In Negril, I used to go to Sweet Spice. The best ever. It looks like a pan-fried stake, but it’s conch (the mollusk). served with salad.

CONCH BITS

The same as the stakes, but it’s cut into pieces and pan-fried separately. It’s not ideal for a diet, but it’s worth trying once.

BUN AND CHEESE

This is a typical quick meal at Easter time – the bun is a very thick cake made with candied fruits, making it very sweet. It’s cut into slices and eaten as a sandwich with cheddar cheese. Not really my favorite, I have to say.

BUMMY

It’s a sort of flatbread,  gluten-free friendly as it is made with cassava flour only, salted, although it’s good to eat soaked in milk. It is also served on the side of the main courses.

PATTIES and COCOBREAD

AH!!! The real snack! They are like a half-moon-shaped bread filled with all sorts of stuff, from veggie ones with calaloo and other vegetables, ackee, saltfish, meat, and so forth. You can find it of any kind. It comes mostly fried. The coco bread is a type of focaccia, characterized by its very soft texture. Typically, you cut the coco bread in half and put a patty inside. I know it has lots of carbs, but it tastes good!! The best place to find them is by Juicy Patties, it’s like local fast food, a franchise with branches all over Jamaica. However, I prefer it when I find more homemade ones from small local shops.

JAMAICAN FOOD: DESERTS

JAMAICAN SPICE BUN

As I mentioned before, it is a typical dessert made and eaten for Easter, although you will find it all year round in the snacks section of supermarkets. It’s a dark chocolate cake made with lots of candied fruits. very sweet.

JAMAICAN COCONUT DROPS  

Extremely sugary dessert, or snack, made of diced coconut mixed with sugar and ginger, boiled together until the mixture dries off and it the syrup hardens.  SWEET!

JAMAICAN GIZZADA 

Another super sweet treat – made with a base that is similar to a tart, filled with a blend of coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, and ginger, cooked and melted together.

Woooow! That was a long list. I hope you didn’t get bored, and you will find it useful during your trip to Jamaica. Of course, it is not everything they have. I have just included what I remembered from my time there and, most of all, what I loved the most. If you think I forgot something important, please feel free to write in the comments section below. I will be happy to fix it.

One Love!

PS. Oh, And If you wish to have some recipes, I have found this site called Jamaicans.com that can help you create beautiful Jamaican dishes.

FOR FURTHER READING ON JAMAICA

• The 20 Best Restaurants in Jamaica
• Jamaican patois phrases and sayings
• 20 Delicious Negril Restaurant Options For The Best Jamaican Food