Jamaican

What it is

Jamaican cuisine grew from the kitchen of the African enslaved population, who took British colonial ingredients, Indigenous Taino techniques like jerk-pit cooking, and later Indian indentured-laborer curry traditions and made them their own. The result is one of the world’s most distinctively spiced cuisines.

How it tastes

Scotch bonnet’s fruity heat, allspice’s warm clove-and-cinnamon depth, and pimento wood smoke set the jerk profile that defines Jamaican cooking abroad. Coconut milk, thyme, scallion, and ginger fill out the rest of the pantry.

Signature dishes & techniques

Jerk chicken — marinated in a wet rub of scotch bonnet, allspice berries, thyme, and scallion, then smoked over pimento wood — is the country’s global ambassador. Ackee and saltfish, the national dish, pairs the buttery red-jacketed national fruit with reconstituted salt cod. Curry goat, rice and peas, and stewed oxtail with butter beans complete the Sunday plate.