Foods in Negril, Jamaica
- The cuisine in Negril is almost as good as the weather.Waving in the caribbean wind image by Gientje from Fotolia.com
The Caribbean island of Jamaica is famed for its culture and cuisine, as well as being the birthplace of influential musician Bob Marley. Negril is a tourist town on the west coast of the island with beautiful beaches. It became a holiday destination after an influx of hippies and Viet Nam veterans discovered the town in the 1960s and '70s. Although many restaurants offer food familiar to travelers, traditional Jamaican food is also readily available in Negril, and tourists can easily develop a taste for Jerk Chicken or Ackee and Saltfish. - Ackee and Saltfish is Jamaica's national dish. It consists of ackee, the national fruit of Jamaica, and saltfish, which is salted cod. The ackee and salfish are cooked with onion, tomato and a bit of Scotch Bonnet pepper, a very common Jamaican spice, to form ackee and saltfish. It looks a little like scrambled eggs, being pale yellow in color.
On the tree, ackee is pear-shaped and ranges in color from red to orange. The fruit opens into three parts when ripe, reveaing three sections of yellow-white edible flesh. Inside each pocket of flesh is a black inedible seed. Ackee is a relatively mildly flavored fruit with a silky texture that often needs additional flavour to make a tasty meal -- added vegetables and fish contribute flavor to the dish, which may also be topped with bacon and mixed herbs for extra flavor. - Jerk chicken is another common dish in Negril, and is the dish most people associate with Jamaica. "Jerk" is a combination of spices added to the chicken, which is normally served with rice. The seasoning includes ginger, onions allspice and Scotch Bonnets. Other seasonings frequently used with Jerk chicken are cinnamon, nutmeg and garlic. Some of the ingredients are made into a marinade, and before cooking, a dry selection of the herbs and spices is rubbed onto the meat. It is traditionally barbecued, but it is the seasoning that makes it "Jerk" chicken. Interestingly, the dish was originally made with pork, but now chicken and fish are more common. This dish is for lovers of spicy food, as Scotch Bonnet peppers are used plentifully in the recipe.
- Jamaicans are fans of spicy food, and as a result, curry is big in their cuisine. Stereotypically, Jamaican curries use goat meat, but other meats can be substituted. Traditional Jamaican curries are made using curry powder, onion, garlic, lime, vegetable oil, Scotch Bonnet peppers, spring onions and thyme. Many restaurants will serve their own variations on this basic set of ingredients.
- Plantain is fruit which is similar in many ways to the banana. It has either green or yellow skin, depending on the ripeness. It turns pale yellow as it ripens, and later the skin begins to turn black. It is a low-sugar, more nutritious version of the banana that must be cooked before eating, usually fried, but may be also boiled or grilled. In Negril, fried plantain is often served with breakfast.
