Jamaica travel guide

Eating and drinking

It’s definitely true that Jamaicans love their food. Socialising often revolves around it, and they’ll happily tell you that “half of your life gone” if you refuse to try new tastes or experiences. For Carmel Hendry from our expert vacation company Explore, experiencing local food culture is key to understanding Jamaica. “We really try and get that kind of interaction going around cafes and food stalls, which is a great way to see the culture of a place,” she says. “It’s local people going out on Friday or Saturday night, sitting at the bar and ordering half a pound of pork and a Red Stripe.”

Jamaica’s national dish is ackee and saltfish, a sautéed jumble of ackee fruit, salt cod, peppers and spices, traditionally served at breakfast. But of course, Jamaica is most famous for jerk – where meat or fish is dry-rubbed or marinated in tongue-searing spices, and then smoked slowly on an outdoor fire over pimento wood.

Vegetarians and vegans are well catered to thanks to the Rastafarian Ital diet, which rejects salt, chemicals, meat and dairy. Many restaurants include Ital options on their menus, and popular dishes include aubergine curry, fried okra and sweet potato soups.

Tropical fruit is plentiful and you’ll find the usual favourites such as coconut, papaya and mango wherever you go, though opting for some soursop, mamey fruit, ugli or stinking toe might deliver more excitement.

Jamaica’s Blue Mountains produce some of the best, and most expensive, coffee in the world. Beans are hand-picked and hand-inspected and coffee is produced in much smaller quantities than in countries like Ethiopia or Colombia – hence its exclusive reputation.

All across Jamaica, in small stores and in roadside stalls you’ll find roots tonics. Made from the roots of plants such as sarsaparilla and dandelion, they’re said to have medicinal properties.