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Belize — the anglophone outlier

Comparison

⚠ NOT A SPANISH-SPEAKING COUNTRY AND NOT REALLY A CENTRAL AMERICAN ONE IN ITS OWN SELF-UNDERSTANDING. Belize was BRITISH HONDURAS, is the only Central American state with English as its official language, is a CARICOM member, and looks Caribbean as much as Central American. Its population is a genuine plurality with no majority: MESTIZO (now the largest, largely from Yucatán after the 1847 Caste War), KRIOL, MAYA (Q’eqchi’, Mopan and Yucatec), GARIFUNA, MENNONITE, Chinese, East Indian and Lebanese. Six districts. ⚠ RICE AND BEANS IS THE NATIONAL DISH and — the distinction Belizeans insist on — is NOT the same as "beans and rice": rice and beans are cooked together in coconut milk, while beans and rice are cooked separately and served side by side.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Kriol community documented
  • Mestizo community documented
  • Maya community documented
  • Garifuna community documented
  • Mennonites community documented

Languages: English, Belize Kriol English, Spanish, Garifuna, Q'eqchi', Mopan, Yucatec Maya, Plautdietsch

What is recorded

  • Belize is the only Central American state with English as its official language and is a CARICOM member. Its population has no ethnic majority, comprising Mestizo (the largest group, substantially descended from Yucatec migrants after the 1847 Caste War), Kriol, Maya (Q’eqchi’, Mopan and Yucatec), Garifuna, Mennonite, Chinese, East Indian and Lebanese communities. documented
  • The Caste War of Yucatán drives Yucatec Mestizo and Maya refugees south into northern Belize, establishing Corozal and reshaping the district’s food. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Mexican Cuisine documented

    Northern Belize was settled by Yucatec Mestizos fleeing the 1847 Caste War; escabeche, relleno negro and recado are that inheritance.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.