Belize Cuisine:
A Blend of Caribbean, Mexican, Spanish, and Mayan Food Traditions.

ABOVE: Rice and Beans is a Belize tradition. At the very top is fried plantain. Most of the food is on a bed of rice and beans cooked with coconut milk and bathed with gravy from the stewed meat at the bottom of the picture. Next to the meat is a traditional creole home-made hot sauce of onions, lime juice and Habanero Pepper. At left is your cole-slaw. Rice and Beans is also served with potato salad instead of cole slaw.

It’s a cultural smorgasbord! It’s as varied and rich as the several cultures that together make up Belizean cuisine. Belizean food can be as peppery and fiery as the heat of the tropical sun, or as cool and refreshing as the crystal clear Caribbean waters that wash the Belizean shores. Or it can be as light and bright as the hundreds of birds that sing in Belizean jungles, or as savory and earthy as the dozens of wildlife that roam her acres of primary forest (many of them now protected species, so no eating of off-season game meat and the hawksbill turtle is always a no-no for turtle soup or any menu item!).

With the addition of immigrants from India, mainland China, Nigeria and neighboring Central American countries over the years, Belizean cuisine also now has an added international flavor. And, particularly with the gastronomic rise in tourism in the past five years, European cuisine, as well as American favorites, has become as readily available as the stalwart Kriol (Creole) rice-and-beans, Mestizo chimole, Mayan caldo, Garifuna hudut or East Indian curried favorites – all dishes which, incidentally, can today be considered pan-Belizean. Are you beginning to get hungry? Well read on and feast on the following Belizean favorites!

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