Flavors of Belize

The cuisine of Belize has three major influences: first, the spicy influence of its Latin neighbors and its own multicultural population; second, the influx of tourists with discerning palates who demanded, and eventually got, a higher standard of cooking at hotels and restaurants; and, third, the availability of fish, lobster, and conch fresh from the sea.

Rice and Beans

There is no single Belizean cuisine. Belize dining, like Belize itself, grew out of a gumbo of influences—Mexican, Guatemalan, African, Caribbean, Mayan, Garífuna, English, Chinese, East Indian, and American. The most Belizean of all dishes is rice and beans. Although originally considered a Creole dish, today it's eaten daily by just about everyone. Recipes vary, but most use kidney beans, garlic, coconut milk, onion, and seasonings like black pepper, recado, a paste made from annatto seeds and other spices, salt, and thyme. The kidney beans are boiled with seasonings and a little piece of meat—salt pork, pigtail, or pieces of bacon. Then the seasoned beans are cooked together with rice. A related but different dish is beans and rice, which is stewed beans served with white rice on the side, not cooked together as in its sister dish. In many restaurants you'll have a choice of rice and beans or beans and rice. Whatever and wherever you eat, you're likely to find a bottle of Marie Sharp's hot sauce on the table. This proud product of Belize—it's bottled near Dangriga—comes in a spectrum of heat, from Mild to Fiery Hot to No Wimps Allowed.

Regional Specialties

Among other Creole specialties are cow-foot soup (yes, made with real cows' hooves), "boil up" (a stew of fish, potatoes, plantains, cassava, and other vegetables, and eggs), and the ubiquitous "stew chicken." Many Creole dishes are cooked in coconut milk and seasoned with red or black recado. You'll also find many Mestizo or Latin favorites such as escabeche (onion soup, with lime, vinegar, and chicken), salbutes (fried corn tortillas with chicken and a topping of tomatoes, onions, and peppers), and the similar garnaches (fried tortillas with refried beans, cabbage, and cheese). Many of these homey dishes are sold at street stands, and it's usually very safe to eat at these stands. In Dangriga and Punta Gorda or other Garífuna areas, try dishes such as sere lasus (fish soup with plantain balls) or cassava dumplings.

Most local beef is grass-fed. Filets are generally the tenderest option. Belizean pork, however, is superb, and it's rare to get anything but a juicy, delicious pork chop in Belize. Chicken, the most popular meat in Belize, is also good. Most of Belize's chickens—and indeed much of other food, from eggs to cheese to vegetables—are provided by Mennonite farms in Spanish Lookout and elsewhere.

Seafood

On the coast and cayes, seafood is fresh, relatively inexpensive, and delicious. The Caribbean spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) is one of Belize's gourmet treats. Unlike its Maine cousin, it lacks claws, and the edible meat is in its tail. It's perfect lightly grilled and served with drawn butter, but you can also enjoy it in fritters, soups, bisques, salads, and even burgers. Lobster season runs from June 15 to February 15. Conch, in season all year except for the months of July, August, and September, also is widely served in Belize, as conch steak, fritters, ceviche, and soup. On restaurant menus you're most likely to find snapper, snook, and grouper, each tasty without being too fishy. Belizeans themselves often favor barracuda. Farm-raised tilapia is also widely available. Most shrimp are also farm-raised, from one of the large shrimp farms near Placencia and elsewhere.

Belizeans love their ceviche—raw seafood marinated in lime juice. You'll find a variety of ceviche dishes on menus everywhere—conch, shrimp, lobster, fish, and even octopus and squid. Usually the seafood is mixed with onion, hot peppers, salt, and herbs such as cilantro or culantro (similar to cilantro but stronger in flavor), and then "cooked" with lime or other citrus juices. It's all delicious!

Fruits and Vegetables

Belize offers a cornucopia of delicious fresh tropical fruits, although unfortunately not too much of the fruit makes its way to restaurant tables. You may have to stop at fruit stands and buy your own. In season, fruits in markets are remarkably inexpensive. For example, you can buy 8 or 10 bananas for BZ$1 or a huge pineapple for BZ$2. Papayas, mangoes, bananas, oranges, cantalopes, and watermelons are the most common fruits served usually on breakfast plates. But the markets have many other kinds of fruit: one is craboo or nance, a small yellow fruit the size of a cherry, which ripens in July and August. They're excellent mashed and served with milk, or just eaten raw. Markets also have star fruit, soursop, breadfruit, dragon fruit, cashew fruit, and others. Among the best local markets in Belize are those in Corozal Town, Orange Walk Town, Belize City, Belmopan, San Ignacio, Dangriga, and Punta Gorda. Most operate daily, with Saturday usually being the busiest.

Some uncommon vegetables include cho cho, a mild-flavored squash also known as mirlton or chayote. It's often served raw in salads and also baked, fried, boiled, and stuffed. Chaya is a green leafy plant that is sometimes called Mayan spinach. It's often served as cooked greens or in scrambled eggs. A similar, spinach-like green is callaloo.

Beer, Wines, and Spirits

The legal drinking age in Belize is 18. Nearly all restaurants serve local brew Belikin, lager and stout, and Belikin's sister ale, Lighthouse. Due to restrictive import laws, the fine beers of neighboring Mexico and Guatemala are rare, although due to Belize’s membership in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Red Stripe, Presidente, and Heineken, all brewed in the Caribbean, can be imported into Belize. Many bars offer terrific tropical mixed drinks; a growing number offer wine. Imported liquor is expensive. Several Belize companies distill liquors, primarily rum, which is excellent, but also gin and vodka, which are virtually undrinkable. Also available are a variety of local fruit wines, such as cashew, nance, and soursop. Travelers "One Barrel" Rum, with a slight vanilla-caramel flavor, is a favorite. With tonic or cola, it goes for a bargain BZ$4 or BZ$5 in many bars. Imported wines are available in supermarkets and better restaurants, at about twice the price of the same wines in the United States. There are specialty wine stores in Belize City and San Pedro. Cashew, blackberry, and other local wines are available around the country. Beer, wine and liquor are sold in grocery stores in Belize.