Food is a major aspect of what makes up Caribbean culture. Caribbean food is typically a variation of African dishes that used native ingredients mixed with Creole influences. It is our development after the interculteration of African culture, respective native cultures, and other emigrant cultures that give us our culture.

Rice, although commonly thought of as an Asian crop, is often incorrectly assumed to have been introduced to Africans by Europeans or Asians. Rice has always been a staple crop in Africa with its own native strains that can be traced back to as early as 1500 BC.

Rice was brought to the western world by European colonisers and the techniques for farming rice were brought by the African slave women.

Jollof Rice – Africa

Jollof rice, a traditional African rice dish, shares many similarities with popular rice dishes in the region. Jollof rice is typically made by cooking long-grain rice, tomatoes, onions, spices, vegetables, and meat in a single pot.

Cook-Up Rice – Guyana

Cook-up rice is a traditional Guyanese dish can be made with a single type of meat or a combination of meats along with peas or beans of your choice.

Pelau (Pale-ow) – Eastern Caribbean and Trinidad

This one-dish meal combines peas, meat or chicken, and rice along with fresh herbs, peppers and coconut milk and flavoured and coloured with caramelised sugar. Trinidadian Pelau tends to add crab as their meat of choice, North Anglo-Caribbean islands tend to use more pimento whereas eastern and southern islands tend to use more herbs such as Chadon Beni (pronounced Shadow-Benny)

One Pot – Jamaica

This one-dish meal combines peas, meat or chicken, and rice along with fresh herbs, peppers and coconut milk and pimento to give it a Jamaican flavour.

Moksi-Alesi (Mock-See-Al-Ay-See)- Suriname

Moksi-Alesi in Suriname is as a dish with origins in slavery that mixed rice with leftover food that has remained as a signature dish in the country.