Jamaica's cuisine is a cocktail of the island's multicultural, multinational and multiracial character. Each ethnic group, inhabiting or having inhabited Jamaica, contributed the best of its culinary traditions to what is now distinctive Jamaican cuisine. Arawak Indian, Spanish, African, Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese and British influences all contributed to a fabulous and undeniably delicious blend.
The island's best known culinary creation is mouth-watering jerk meat, seasoned and barbecued slowly in an outdoor pit over a fire of pimento wood, which gives the meat its distinctive flavor. Seafood is popular and originally prepared. Staple snacks are seasoned patties with different stuffing, cocoa bread and ackee, a tree-growing fruit resembling scrambled eggs when cooked. Curried and heavily seasoned chicken, shrimps and pork, oxtails, served with rice and beans feature main courses. No festivity is complete without Curry Goat - the specialty of the island. There is also a vast selection of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Drinks are peculiar and mostly endemic. There is a wide and diverse range of fresh tropical juices, but the favorite local soft drink is sky juice - cones of shaved ice flavored with sticky fruit syrup or fresh cane juice. Another refreshing beverage is coconut juice straight from the nut. Jamaica's coffee brand, grown in the Blue Mountains is among the most flavorsome and precious in the world. Local chocolate is superb, while tea is also very special. Tea in Jamaica means any hot drink - regular tea, mixed with rum, milk or spices, herbal tea or even fish tea. Beware that herbal tea may be prepared of marijuana or hallucinogenic mushrooms. Beer and rum are the most popular alcoholic drinks. |
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Name: Jamaica |
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Area: 11,425 sq km |
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Capital City: Kingston |
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Population: 3 million |
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Language: English, Creole |
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Currency: Jamaica Dollar |
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Time Zone: GMT - 5 hrs |
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Religion: 80% Christian |
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