Cuisine of the Cayman Islands
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The Cayman Islands are a group of islands situated in the Caribbean Sea just between Cuba and Honduras. After being colonized first by Jamaica and then by the British, Cayman Islands remained under British dependency since 1962. Traditional Cayman Islands cuisine is very tied to Jamaican cuisine and they also kept British influences in their cooking,[1] but visitors can also find a large variety of international dishes with a local twist. As for traditional dishes, the main ingredients are coconut, plantain, cassava, yams, rice and peas. Jamaican cuisine enriched Cayman's cuisine by offering a large variety of spices such as jerk, curry and other exotic seasonings. The humid soil provides a large variety of exotic fruits and vegetables such as yellow squash, avocados, callaloo (Caribbean spinach), cassava, calabash, spring onions, pineapples, tomatoes, peas, chili, peppers a great range of citrus fruits such as oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits, bananas and plantains, sweet potatoes, yams and mangoes.
Cayman Islands cuisine is very similar to Jamaican cuisine and preserves specific British influences. Traditional dishes are frequently prepared with fish, seafood, vegetables and spices. Fish and seafood are the main ingredients for any Cayman dish; the most common are tuna, turtle, snapper, mackerel and mahi-mahi, which are usually prepared with tomato, onion and peppers. The Cayman Islands are considered to be the homeland of the conch and Strombus gigas, a type of conch, has been the staple dish for many years.[2] Conch is served marinated, in salads, in creamy chowders or in stews. Cayman Islanders prefer spicy dishes; a common spicy sauce in the Cayman Islands is chili sauce made of tomatoes, onions, vinegar and peppers. Fish is served for lunch or dinner grilled, marinated, on salads, or stewed, and it is also served for breakfast with ackee, a fruit whose appearance when cooked is similar to scrambled eggs.
The national dish is stewed turtle, but foods like jerk chicken and pork, oxtail, breadfruit, patties, and “fry snapper” are frequently served as well.
