It's no secret that I love food. A variety of foods suit my palate, including the Caribbean and Creole flavors of Belize. There is also the Mayan and Mexican influence in Belizean dishes, so just like the diversity of it's people, the flavors of Belize are just as diverse!
A staple of the Belizean diet is beans and rice with fried plantains. Now, you have to know how to order it because if you say "beans and rice" you will get a plate of slow-simmered beans, well seasoned with a side of rice. If you order "rice and beans," on the other hand, you'll get a bowl of steamy goodness all mixed together, like what you'd get in New Orleans.
Know the difference--
Rice & Beans (left) - Beans & Rice (right), often served with chicken and/or plantains
As shown above, this dish can be combined with any number of proteins, but chicken and seafood reign supreme in Belize. However, it is often eaten as the main dish--for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
A favorite way to eat "yard bird," is in a dish they call Stewed Chicken:
Although there are many variations on this dish, most traditional recipes keep it simple – just chicken, red recado, onion and water. Red recato is basically a chili paste common to the region made with the powder of ancho and annato chili seeds. Yet to try it, but it looks and sounds DELICIOUS!
Traditional Belizean Tamales are wrapped in plantain leaves and can be made with or without meat. These local favorites and the dish above, show some of the Mexican influences in Belizean cooking.
Now, the area is super fertile and lots of exotic plants and tropical fruits grow there. In fact, the trees are dripping with them! You can find just about anything at local open-air markets and roadside stands. So having locally grown produce and non-GMO meats, which are also abundant at butcher shops, is a definite plus! I can get back to healthy living/eating. It's too expensive to buy imported foods, anyway, so local is best.
And because Placencia is an old fishing village with a lagoon on one side and the Caribbean on the other, seafood is rather plentiful. I LOVE SEAFOOD (well not scallops or anything too "fishy")! And spiny lobster season runs more than half the year--July to February!
Belizean Spiny Lobster (almost always in season)Now, I've always been a fan of lobster, well ever since I tried it at 18. And on Fort Myers Beach, I had friends that would go lobstering in the Florida Keys. If you've never had a fresh lobster, hot off the grill with nothing more than garlic butter and lemon juice squeezed over it, then YOU HAVE NOT LIVED!!! And I've seen photos of local men grilling lobsters on the sides of Placencia's "tiny main street," (a boardwalk, basically). I could live off of wild caught seafood and locally grown veggies and fruit, trust me!
These little Belizean treats, called Garnache, are another thing I look forward to trying:
They are
fried corn tortillas topped anyway you like and they look delicious!
And this is just a SAMPLING of the foods of Belize! Ever since I taught myself how to cook (c.2001), I've been a bonafide foodie! I am good with living off the land. I could even grow my own foods--corn, beans, onions, peppers, potatoes...
I won't be eating straight starch for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but an occasional plate of red or black beans with white or saffron rice, would be doable. I'd prefer to eat seafood, fruits and veggies, locally sourced. But this foodie can make himself happy just about anywhere!
And so the 6th reason in my 10 reasons to move to Belize--FOOD!!! (and the abundance of it)!
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