Flavors of Guyana

The cuisine

Traditional food of Guyana

Guyana’s food was born from the meeting of peoples who arrived in the country at different times. Indigenous peoples already cultivated cassava and invented cassareep, a dark sauce that preserves meat. Dutch and British settlers brought sugar plantations and, with them, enslaved Africans, who created the basis of Creole cuisine. After abolition came indentured workers from Madeira, India, and China.

Each heritage left dishes that today belong to the whole country. Pepperpot, cooked in cassareep, comes from the indigenous tradition and opens Christmas morning. Cook-up rice, rice made in a single pot with beans and coconut milk, is everyday food and the dish for New Year’s Eve. Garlic pork arrived with the Portuguese; dhal puri, with the Indians; black cake is the fruit cake of Christmas.

Demerara rum is named after the river where the country’s last distillery stands, heir to the distilleries of the old plantations. The drink contains alcohol and should be enjoyed in moderation.

Rice, cassava, plantain, coconut milk, curry, and the wiri wiri pepper appear in many recipes. Christmas brings several of these dishes to the same table, and every family has its own recipe.

Each specialty’s page describes the origin as recorded by the sources, the ingredients, and the way to eat it.