Antigua and Barbuda cuisine refers to the cuisines of the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An isla ...

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

and

Barbuda Barbuda (), is an island located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the sovereign state of Antigua and Barbuda. It is located north of the island of Antigua and is part of the Leeward Islands of the West Indies. The island is a popula ...

. The national dish is

fungie Fungie (), also known as the Dingle Dolphin, was a male common bottlenose dolphin. He became separated from other wild dolphins and lived in very close contact with the people of Dingle on the southwest coast of Ireland. Wild bottlenose dolph ...

(pronounced "foon-jee") and pepperpot."Antigua & Barbuda National Dish & Recipe."Recipeisland.com
Accessed July 2011. Fungie is a dish similar to Italian

Polenta Polenta (, ) is a dish of boiled cornmeal that was historically made from other grains. The dish comes from Italy. It may be served as a hot porridge, or it may be allowed to cool and solidify into a loaf that can be baked, fried, or grilled. ...

, made mostly with cornmeal. Other local dishes include

ducana Ducana is a sweet potato dumpling or pudding from Antigua, Saint Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and many other Caribbean islands. They are made from grated sweet potatoes, grated coconut, sugar, flour, coconut milk, and/or water ...

, seasoned rice,

saltfish Dried and salted cod, sometimes referred to as salt cod or saltfish or salt dolly, is cod which has been preserved by drying after salting. Cod which has been dried without the addition of salt is stockfish. Salt cod was long a major export of ...

and

lobster Lobsters are a family (Nephropidae, synonym Homaridae) of marine crustaceans. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on the sea floor. Three of their five pairs of legs have claws, including the first pair, ...

(from Barbuda). There are also local confectioners which include:

sugar cake Sugar cakes are confections made with grated coconut, sugar, and food coloring. Cooking is done in a saucepan on low heat to avoid burning, and moulding is done immediately afterwards on a baking sheet or shallow plate. They are a popular sweet ...

fudge Fudge is a type of confection that is made by mixing sugar, butter and milk, heating it to the soft-ball stage at , and then beating the mixture while it cools so that it acquires a smooth, creamy consistency. In texture, this crystalline can ...

, raspberry and

tamarind Tamarind (''Tamarindus indica'') is a leguminous tree bearing edible fruit that is probably indigenous to tropical Africa. The genus ''Tamarindus'' is monotypic, meaning that it contains only this species. It belongs to the family Fabacea ...

stew, and

peanut brittle Brittle is a type of confection consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with nuts such as pecans, almonds, or peanuts, and which are usually less than 1 cm thick. Types It has many variations around the world, such as ' ...

Although these foods are indigenous to Antigua and Barbuda and to some other Caribbean countries, the local diet has diversified and now include local dishes of Jamaica, such as jerk meats, or

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

, such as

Roti Roti (also known as chapati) is a round flatbread native to the Indian subcontinent. It is popular in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, Trin ...

, and other Caribbean countries.

Common foods and dishes

Breakfast dishes include salt fish,

eggplant Eggplant ( US, Canada), aubergine ( UK, Ireland) or brinjal (Indian subcontinent, Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa) is a plant species in the nightshade family Solanaceae. ''Solanum melongena'' is grown worldwide for its edible fruit. Mo ...

(aka troba),

eggs Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...

, and

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...

. Lunches typically include a starch, such as

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...

macaroni Macaroni (, Italian: maccheroni) is dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes.Oxford DictionaryMacaroni/ref> Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machine ...

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ...

, with

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...

, an entree (fish, chicken, pork, beef etc.) and a side dish such as macaroni pie, scalloped

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Uni ...

es or

plantain Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...

s. On Sundays, many people in the country go to church and afterward prepare a variety of foods at home. Dinner on Sundays is often eaten earlier (around 2:00 pm) because people are often off from work. Dinners may include pork, baked chicken, stewed lamb, or turkey, alongside rice (prepared in a variety of ways), macaroni pie, salads, and a local drink. Dessert may be ice cream and cake, apple pie (mango and pineapple pie in their season), or gelatin. Antiguan Butter Bread is also a main staple of Antiguan cuisine, a soft buttery loaf of bread that needs no butter added once baked. Many locals enjoy fresh baked butter bread and cheese for breakfast and throughout the day. There are many homes in neighborhoods all over Antigua that have small bakeries built onto them, where locals can go and purchase these fresh baked loaves. They are coupled with either cheese, sardines, and/or a bright red sausage that locals sometimes call salami, as well as many other foods. They also have what is called "provisions" with most meals. Provisions are foods that are usually a root or starch like potatoes, yams, sweet potatoes, Eddo, etc. During Carnival, souse, a type of soup made very spicy with pigs feet, knuckles, and tails with many onions, is a popular snack, sold by vendors on the side of the road. Black pudding, also known as blood sausage, is a well-seasoned sausage made with rice, meat, and blood that is also enjoyed by locals in Antigua. As you travel the roads of Antigua's countryside, you will see locals roasting fresh picked corn, usually in the husk, on makeshift grills ready to be purchased and eaten. Antigua is proud to claim their locally grown pineapples as one of the sweetest types to be found. The Antiguan Pineapple is a very small fruit, but often juicy and sweet. There are small pineapple crops throughout the island.

Beverages

Local drinks include mauby,

seamoss ''Chondrus crispus''—commonly called Irish moss or carrageen moss (Irish ''carraigín'', "little rock")—is a species of red algae which grows abundantly along the rocky parts of the Atlantic coast of Europe and North America. In its fresh ...

juice,

raspberry The raspberry is the edible fruit of a multitude of plant species in the genus ''Rubus'' of the rose family, most of which are in the subgenus '' Idaeobatus''. The name also applies to these plants themselves. Raspberries are perennial with ...

juice,

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in Sout ...

juice,

lemonade Lemonade is a sweetened lemon-flavored beverage. There are varieties of lemonade found throughout the world. In North America and South Asia, cloudy still lemonade is the most common variety. There it is traditionally a homemade drink using ...

coconut milk Coconut milk is an opaque, milky-white liquid extracted from the grated pulp of mature coconuts. The opacity and rich taste of coconut milk are due to its high oil content, most of which is saturated fat. Coconut milk is a traditional food ...

hibiscus ''Hibiscus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. The genus is quite large, comprising several hundred species that are native to warm temperate, subtropical and tropical regions throughout the world. Member species ...

juice,

ginger beer Traditional ginger beer is a sweetened and carbonated, usually non-alcoholic beverage. Historically it was produced by the natural fermentation of prepared ginger spice, yeast and sugar. Current ginger beers are often manufactured rather than ...

passion fruit ''Passiflora edulis,'' commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy ...

juice,

guava Guava () is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava ''Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family ( Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, t ...

juice,

soursop Soursop (also called ''graviola, guyabano'', and in Hispanic America, ''guanábana'') is the fruit of ''Annona muricata'', a broadleaf, flowering, evergreen tree. It is native to the tropical regions of the Americas and the Caribbean and is wi ...

juice and

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is a herbaceous perennial which grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of ...

beer, a

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common t ...

. Alcoholic drinks include

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

, malts and

rum Rum is a liquor made by fermenting and then distilling sugarcane molasses or sugarcane juice. The distillate, a clear liquid, is usually aged in oak barrels. Rum is produced in nearly every sugar-producing region of the world, such as the Ph ...

s, many of which are made locally, including Wadadli beer (named after the original name of the island) and the award-winning English Harbour Rum. Many locals drink bottled sodas that they call sweet drink. One popular flavor is punch. The locals also enjoy Red Stripe beer, Malta, Guinness stout and Heineken beer. For the Christmas holidays a special celebratory alcoholic drink that is very popular in Antigua is called Ponche Kuba Cream Liqueur, a thick, creamy tan colored drink that is also very sweet and high in alcohol content.

References

External links

Recipes for many Antiguan dishesFood and Drink Caribbean in Antigua
{{Authority control Caribbean cuisine