Barbados
Ask what Barbados eats and the answer starts with this: bajan cooking pairs flying fish and cou-cou with mustardy pepper sauce and the world’s oldest rum heritage. Look for Cou-cou and flying fish (national dish: cornmeal-okra mash with steamed flying fish), Pudding and souse (pickled pork with steamed sweet-potato pudding, Saturday ritual) and Macaroni pie (baked macaroni-cheddar casserole, Bajan comfort food). The national dish: cornmeal and okra cou-cou from West African fufu, with the flying fish that gave Barbados its nickname. This atlas has 25 Barbados dishes catalogued below, from everyday cooking to food kept for festivals and special occasions.
25 dishes.
Bajan black cakeVery dark fruit cake made with fruit soaked for months in rum and falernum
Bajan fish brothClear peppery broth of fish, ground provisions and dumplings
Bajan fish cakesFluffy salt-cod fritters dipped in pepper sauce
Bajan pepper sauceMustard-scotch bonnet hot sauce spooned on everything
Bajan pickleCucumber, onion and hot pepper in lime and vinegar, fiercely hot
Bajan seasoningGreen paste of marjoram, thyme, parsley, onion and hot pepper rubbed into meat and fish
Bajan sweet breadCoconut loaf with cherry and spice, sliced and eaten with cheese
BanksPale lager drunk cold at rum shops and cricket grounds
Cassava poneDense baked pudding of grated cassava, coconut and spices, cut in squares
Coconut turnoverSweet dough turnover filled with grated coconut cooked in sugar and spice
ConkiesSteamed cornmeal-coconut-pumpkin parcels in banana leaf, Independence treat
Corn and oilDark rum stirred with falernum, lime and bitters over ice
Cou-cou and flying fishNational dish: cornmeal-okra mash with steamed flying fish
CutterSalt-bread sandwich with ham, fish, or fishcakes
FalernumSweet lime, clove, almond and ginger liqueur, splashed into rum drinks
Jug jugChristmas dish of guinea corn and pigeon peas cooked with salt meat
Macaroni pieBaked macaroni-cheddar casserole, Bajan comfort food
MaubyBitter-sweet bark infusion with spice, drunk very cold
Mount Gay rumGolden Barbadian rum with banana and vanilla notes, sipped or mixed
Pepper wineHot peppers steeped in sherry or rum, shaken a few drops at a time
Pudding and sousePickled pork with steamed sweet-potato pudding, Saturday ritual
Rum punchRum, lime, syrup and water over ice, dusted with nutmeg and bitters
Salt breadSmall soft-crusted white roll, folded and torn open while warm
Sea eggWhite sea urchin roe steamed or fried, served in the shell
SorrelRuby hibiscus drink steeped with ginger, cloves and orange peel