Before the Spanish colonized this small Caribbean Island, Jamaicans’ diets predominantly centred around locally grown maize, peanuts, potatoes, and papaya. While these ingredients are still widely used in Jamaican cuisine, the introduction of Spanish, Creole, African and neighbouring Caribbean cuisines brought many staple ingredients used in Jamaican traditional food today, including spices, braised and barbecued meats, and fruits and peppers. When the British settled, bread and pastries were introduced. Namely, their take on the Cornish pasty, the beef patty, which is still a popular street eat today.

With a strong farming economy, an emphasis on locally grown foods and a farm-to-plate philosophy are paramount. Traditional Jamaican food remains rustic and wholesome home-cooking is at the forefront with dishes such as the world-famous Jamaican curry Curry Goat, slow-cooked meaty stews, whole grilled fish and of course, their most famous flavour combination and cooking technique, Jerk; a rich mixture of spices and super-hot peppers that are used to marinate the meat before cooking outdoors over smouldering pimento wood, giving it a flavour that can only be described as iconically Jamaican.
These intensely seasoned meats and curries are served alongside rice and beans, fried plantains, and fresh salsas for a classic Jamaican traditional food experience. Jamaicans believe food should be loaded with flavour and never bland, with flavour balancing a honed art of theirs, expertly combining sweet, savoury, salty and spicy to create the perfect harmony. This is particularly prevalent in their national dish, Ackee and Saltfish. Indicative of all Jamaican cuisine is that this marriage of two unlikely ingredients was brought to Jamaica from West Africa as food for the slaves in the late 18^th century. Ackee, a close relative of the lychee, is combined with local saltfish (dried salted cod), spices and tomatoes to create a healthy, flavourful dish commonly served at breakfast to gear the body up for the day ahead.