By Sarah Greaves-Gabbadon
CJ Travel Editor
On our travels to Jamaica we’ve sampled all manner of culinary delights, from world-class sushi in a fancy Kingston restaurant to a “secret” and sumptuous breakfast buffet in Port Antonio and flavorful Indian dinner in Ocho Rios. But there’s nothing quite as delicious as Jamaica’s traditional cuisine, and nowhere we love getting it from more than straight off the street (jerk chicken, anyone?). As in the wider Caribbean, roadside stalls and tiny Mom ‘n’ Pop shops serve up a fresh and authentic flavor of the destination that you just can’t get in a posh dining room. So on your next trip to Jamaica, we recommend wrapping your lips around these popular street eats, which make on-the-go grazing no problem.
PATTY What the burger is to Americans the patty is to Jamaica, an inexpensive and delicious snack enjoyed by everyone from humble bus drivers to high-powered business people. Related, some say, to England’s Cornish pasty and the Latin empanada, this is a turnover made with flaky pastry, traditionally stuffed with beef but now widely available in veggie, chicken and seafood varieties and also in diminutive “cocktail” size. Some patty lovers open the pastry and tuck in a slice of cheese; others enjoy theirs with cocobread (see next item). The only rule we abide by: You gotta eat your patty piping hot, straight from its traditional brown paper bag. There are patty shops in every town –Tastee (shown here) and Juici are the major bakers); they’re sold in supermarkets; from heated glass cabinets in tiny roadside stalls; and even offered complimentary in the VIP airport lounges, Club MoBay and Club Kingston. So there’s no excuse to leave Jamaica without trying (at least) one.
COCOBREAD In our book, there are very few things that can improve the taste of a Jamaican patty. But one of them is coco bread. Snackers with a hearty appetite use it to make a sort of patty sandwich (like the Tastee version, shown here) with the patty as the filling and this sourdough-like pocket (also known as “folding bread”) as the bread surrounding it. The liberal coating of butter between the two halves of cocobread ups the flavor (and the fat count) of this high-calorie snack, but if you’re even considering a patty-and-cocobread lunch (sold at any patty shop or vendor), clearly calories aren’t a concern.
MEATLOAF If you’re more into bread than flaky pastry, a meatloaf might be your thing. Minced spiced beef (often the same as is used to make patties) is encased in an envelope of soft, slightly sweet bread, to make a filling and carb-laden snack guaranteed to hold you over to the next meal. Where to find one? Anywhere that sells patties.
PAN CHICKEN Locals know that after a long night on the town, nothing staves off the munchies (and a hangover!) like this meaty roadside treat. So called because it is cooked over coals in a grill fashioned from large metal oil drum (or pan), this late-night street food is essentially spicy Jamaican barbecue. Order a quarter-chicken with a side of pillowy hardough bread and a squirt of pepper sauce or ketchup and, then devour it straight from the foil package, no fork required.
FESTIVAL These starchy deep-fried fingers will make you break your diet – but it’ll be worth it. Made from flour and cornmeal, sugar and salt, they’re most popular as an accompaniment (along with the fried cassava bread, bammy) to fried or escoveitch fish. The slight sweetness mitigates the pepper of the escoveitch drizzle, and their small size makes it shockingly easy to devour many more of the golden-brown dumplings than you’d intended.