This is a list of Jamaican dishes and foods. Jamaican cuisine includes a mixture of cooking techniques, flavors, spices and influences from the indigenous people on the island of Jamaica, and the Spanish, British, Africans, Indian and Chinese who have inhabited the island. It is also influenced by the crops introduced into the island from tropical West Africa and Southeast Asia, which are now grown locally. Jamaican cuisine includes dishes from the different cultures brought to the island, while other dishes are novel or a fusion of techniques and traditions. A wide variety of seafood, tropical fruits and meats are available.
Ackee and saltfish, made from the local fruit ackee and dried and salted cod (saltfish). This is the national dish of Jamaica. It is often served with bread, Jamaican fried dumplings or roasted breadfruit.
Bammy, a kind of savoury cassava cake
Breadfruit, served roasted, roasted then fried or boiled.
Calabaza
Callaloo, Jamaican spinach
Cassava
Coco bread, made to sandwich the Jamaican patty
Cornbread
Cow Foot, stewed
Curry goat
Dumpling
Escoveitch fish
Green Bananas, eaten boiled, or sliced and fried to make banana chips
Jamaican Festival, similar to Hushpuppy
Hard dough bread
Jamaican patty, a savoury and spicy pastry filled with meat (traditionally beef, but modern fast food franchises now also feature jerked or curried chicken, pork, curried goat, shrimp and lobster), ackee, callaloo, tofu or steamed vegetables
Jerk meat: chicken and pork are the main jerked meats
Oxtail and beans (broad beans)
Pan chicken, jerked chicken prepared and sold by street food vendors along with hard dough bread
Peanuts, available raw, or hot & roasted as street food
Peg bread
Peppered shrimps, street food
Plantain, eaten green or ripe as is, boiled or fried. Plantains are served as side dishes.
Porridge, flavours include peanut, banana, plantain, cornmeal and hominy corn porridges.
Rice and peas, the Sunday staple of most Jamaican households but is also eaten during the week
Roast yam and saltfish
Roti
Run down, a dish consisting of pickled mackerel, coconut milk, herbs and spices
Solomon Gundy
Stamp and Go, dried and salted cod (saltfish) fritters
Stew Peas, a coconut stew of red peas (kidney beans) which may be vegetarian or have pieces of meat added e.g. cured pig's tail
Sugarcane, peeled, which is chewed to obtain the juice, or can be bought as bottled sugarcane juice
Sweet potato
Taro, locally known as dasheen and coco
Taro dumpling
Tripe and Beans
Water crackers
Yam
Ackee
Acerola cherry
Coconut- young green coconuts provide coconut water and jelly, while the older coconuts are grated to make jamaican desserts, sweets and coconut milk
Custard Apple
Guava
Guinep
Jackfruit
June Plum (Tahitian Apple)
Mango, many species available locally. The popular species are locally called Stringy, Number 11, Julie, Tommy Atkins, Blackie, East Indian, Bombay and Graham.
Naseberry (known as Sapodilla throughout the rest of the Caribbean)
Otaheite Apple (Malay apple)
Paw-Paw (Papaya)
Passion fruit
Pineapple
Pomegranate
Soursop
Starapple
Starfruit
Sweetsop
Tamarind
Desserts and Sweets
Asham
Blue Draws, also called tie-a-leaf because it is cooked in tied banana leaves
Bulla cake
Busta coconut sweets (Bustamante Backbone)
Cocktion
Coconut Drops
Cornmeal Pudding
Devon House Ice Cream, a local ice-cream franchise which sports international favourites like vanilla ice cream, and tropical fruit ice cream flavours such as soursop, coconut, pineapple and mango.
Gizzada
Grater cake
Peanut Drops
Plantain Tart
Rock cake
Rum Cake
Sweet Potato Pudding
Tamarind Balls, tamarind fruit rolled into balls and lightly coated with sugar
Toto
Allspice berries, known locally as pimento
Cinnamon
Cloves
Curry powder, Indian or Jamaican, which feature a blend of turmeric, coriander, fenugreek, cumin, allspice, black pepper and cloves. Turmeric is the predominant spice and accounts for curry powder's yellow colour.
Escallion
Garlic
Ginger
Jamaican jerk spice, a blend of spices featuring allspice, locally known as pimento
Nutmeg
Pickapeppa sauce
Rosemary
Scotch bonnet pepper
Soya sauce
Thyme leaves
Turmeric
Soups play an important role in the Jamaican diet, not only as appetizers, but also as main lunch and dinner dishes because they are filling on their own with tubers/staples (such as yam, sweet potato, white potato, breadfruit, Jamaican boiled dumplings, dasheen and coco), vegetables (such as carrot, okra and cho-cho/chayote) and meat. Many Jamaican families enjoy soup on Saturday evenings for dinner. Soup is often had alone, with hard dough bread or tough Jamaican water crackers as accompaniment. Soups are almost always served piping hot.
Chicken Foot Soup
Conch or Janga (crayfish) Soup
Cow cod soup
Fish Tea
Gungo Peas Soup, made with pigeon peas (locally known as gungo peas)
Mannish Water
Pepperpot Soup
Red Peas Soup, made with kidney beans, pigstail, beef or chicken, tubers such as coco, yam, potato & sweet potato, vegetables and spices
Most Jamaicans begin the morning with a hot drink, either alone, with Jamaican tough water crackers, bread or along with a breakfast dish.
Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
Chocolate tea (Hot chocolate), traditionally made from chocolate balls
Herbal Tea, using packaged tea bags or brewed from local herbs. The commonly consumed ones include ginger, cinnamon and peppermint. These serve as accompaniment to breakfast dishes, or can be had with Jamaican water crackers as its own meal. Herbal teas are usually sweetened with sugar.
Horlicks
LASCO Food Drinks, instant powdered drinks made by adding hot water, manufactured by the local company Lasco Manufacturers (Lasco Jamaica) with flavours such as vanilla, creamy malt, peanut punch and almond.
Milo
Tea, popular brands include Tetley and Red Rose Tea.
These accompany meals, usually lunch or dinner. The alcoholic beverages are mainly consumed recreationally, however.
Coconut Water
Champagne cola, Ting or other carbonated soft drinks
Fruit Juices, often made from local fruits such as pineapple, Otaheite apple, june plum (Tahitian apple), acerola cherry, mango and guava, or combined to make medleys such as guava-carrot and fruit punch.
Ginger beer
Jamaican rum
Red Stripe beer
Roots wine
Sorrel (drink), made from Jamaican sorrel (roselle), is enjoyed all year round but also drunk around Christmas holidays as a Christmas drink. White rum or white wine is often added at Christmas.
