Kingston Food: Jerk, the Patty, Ackee and Saltfish, Blue Mountain Coffee, and Jamaican Rum
The food culture of Kingston expresses the Jamaican identity through the jerk technique inherited from the Maroons, the ubiquitous beef patty, the ackee and saltfish national dish, the world-class Blue Mountain coffee, and the heavy-bodied pot still rum tradition of Appleton Estate.
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Jerk: The National Method
Jerk, the Jamaican method of slow-smoking meat over pimento wood and green pimento branches after marinating in the scotch bonnet, allspice, thyme, and scallion jerk seasoning, originated with the Maroon communities of the Cockpit Country who developed the technique for preserving and flavoring the wild pork they hunted in the Blue Mountain interior. The best jerk in Kingston is found at the roadside jerk stands of Constant Spring Road and the Old Hope Road corridor.
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Patty: The Jamaican Street Pastry
The Jamaican beef patty, the flaky turmeric-yellow pastry case filled with the spiced ground beef, chicken, or vegetable filling that has become the defining Jamaican street food internationally, is available in Kingston from the Juici Patties and Tastee chains as well as from the independent bakeries and patty shops of the market district. The Kingston patty, consumed with a Jerk breadcrust from the corner shop, is the most democratic meal in Jamaican food culture.
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Ackee and Saltfish: The National Dish
Ackee and saltfish, the combination of the bright yellow ackee fruit flesh with the desalted salt cod that constitutes the Jamaican national dish, is served at breakfast in Kingston homes and hotels throughout the island and is the most internationally distinctive Jamaican food preparation, relying on the ackee tree brought from West Africa to Jamaica by the slave trade whose fruit is toxic until it opens naturally on the tree. The ackee and saltfish of a good Kingston breakfast defines the flavor palette of Jamaican cooking.
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Blue Mountain Coffee Morning
The morning coffee ritual of the Blue Mountain estate blend, served in the coffee shops of New Kingston and available in whole bean from the specialty coffee retailers of Kingston, is the finest coffee drinking experience in the Caribbean and one of the most expensive coffee experiences in the world. The Blue Mountain coffee farms at Mavis Bank and Section accessible from Kingston are the most visited agricultural tourism sites in Jamaica.
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Rum Culture: Appleton and the Jamaican Tradition
Jamaican rum, distilled from sugarcane molasses in the copper pot still tradition that produces the heavy-bodied, intensely flavored rums distinct from the lighter Spanish-speaking Caribbean rums, is the foundation of the Jamaican hospitality culture and the basis of the global rum cocktail tradition including the original Daiquiri and the Dark and Stormy. The Appleton Estate in the Nassau Valley, accessible from Kingston by road, is the oldest sugar estate and rum distillery in Jamaica.
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Festival and Hard Dough Bread
Festival, the sweet fried cornmeal fritter that accompanies jerk meat and fried fish throughout Jamaica, and hard dough bread, the dense slightly sweet white bread of the Jamaican bakery tradition that is the basis of the breakfast plate throughout the island, are the two most distinctively Jamaican bread products and are present in every Kingston market, bakery, and roadside food stand. The combination of festival with jerk pork is one of the finest simple food combinations in the Caribbean.