Tuesday, August 21, 2012

A Look Into Jamaican Cuisine

By Carlos Buford


A quick look into its rich and diverse past will give us a solid idea of precisely how Jamaican cuisine has been able to become such a distinctive mixture of ethnicities. The roots of Jamaican food can be traced back to the peace-loving Arawak Indians, who named their exotic paradise Xaymaca, or "the Land of Wood and Water".

These people were considered to be one of the primary people who barbecued their foods, which involves barbecuing meat over wood, giving the various meats an extra smoky taste from the wood.

Nevertheless, the impact of the local people ended up being limited by the fact that the Spanish took over the area and also enslaved the locals during the early 16th century. On the other hand, along with the oppressors, emerged a new choice of recipes, the most common of which incorporated the vinegary escovitched fish created by the Spanish Jews.

When the native population begun to decrease in volumes as a result of harsh ways of slavery, the Spanish started to import African-american slaves to enhance their labor force. The African diet regime played a significant role in forming Jamaican foods, several of the common ingredients ended up being introduced by the African slaves, like okra, ackee, saltfish, mangoes, and yams.

In reality, the most popular Jamaican food, jerk, originated from the Western African Coromantee Tribe. Jerking entails marinating various meats such as chicken, beef, seafood etc. in a spicy mixture made from pimento, pepper, thyme, cinnamon, brown sugar, fresh lemon juice, onions, red pepper cayenne, and soy sauce, then grilling it gradually.

In 1655, the English took the territory belonging to the Spanish, bringing with them common English dishes. One fusion meal that remains well-known till this present day is definitely the Jamaican patty, which is a turnover that has a spicy meat filling.

That is definitely not the only influence that the English exerted to Jamaican food. In the early 19th century, slavery ended up being eliminated, requiring the import of indentured servants from China as well as Eastern India.

The Chinese brought with them rice, mustard and chili peppers, which makes Jamaican food jump out even in the Caribbean. The Indians, however, unveiled their well-known curry spices and the captivating idea that virtually anything can be curried. Goat curry is an especially trendy curry that is certainly popular throughout Jamaica, but you can find all kinds of various other curried meats too.




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