• Recipes

Below is a diary of meals that is traditionally considered to form the staple Jamaican diet. Obviously this might not be adhered to by all and sundry, especially with the influx of food from abroad, but the consensus is that the following is representative of day-to-day Jamaican cuisine.

SUNDAY

Breakfast

Main dish is either liver; ackee & saltfish; mackerel; herring. Usually served with fried dumpling, bammy, boiled banana, boiled dumpling and yam.

Lunch

Rice & peas with chicken, roast beef and/or curry goat. Accompaniments are usually sweet potatoes and tossed salad.

Dinner

Amalgamated with lunch. Drinks served with Sunday lunch/dinner are carrot juice, soursop and sorrel.

MONDAY TO FRIDAY

Breakfast

Boiled/fried eggs, sardines, rundown; bowl of cornmeal porridge or banana porridge. Drinks: coffee; Horlicks; Ovaltine.

Lunch

Patty with various breads and cheese; meat loaf. Drinks: various juices, coconut water, fresh lemonade.

Dinner

Various dishes including chicken/shrimp curry; escabeche; steamed fish; oxtail stew; stewed peas/pork; cow foot/heel soup. Curried goat sometimes served but often reserved for Sundays and special occasions. Side dishes include corn, yam, dasheen, cho cho, boiled banana, fried dumplings and fried plantains.
Drinks: same as lunch.

FRIDAY

Breakfast

Same as Monday to Thursday.

Lunch

Same as Monday to Thursday.

Dinner

No one cooks on a Friday. People buy take-away food (jerk chicken/pork; fried or roast fish; roast yam & saltfish; foreign food) or eat out.

SATURDAY

Breakfast

Liver with banana; ackee & saltfish; Yam and dumplings.

Lunch

A day out at the beach would mean that fried fish and bammy would be eaten.

Dinner

Usually reserved for special occasions where curried goat would be served. Adult occasions would involve the serving of Manish Water and/or Cowcod Soup.