Store

Limón and Afro-Costa Rican Foodways

Community

⚠ A DIFFERENT CUISINE AND A DIFFERENT HISTORY ON THE SAME SMALL COUNTRY. The Caribbean province of LIMÓN was settled from the 1870s by JAMAICAN and other West Indian workers brought to build the Atlantic railway and then to work the banana plantations. They brought English, Protestantism, and a Jamaican kitchen, and ⚠ UNTIL 1949 THEY WERE LEGALLY BARRED FROM CROSSING INTO THE CENTRAL VALLEY, which is precisely why the food stayed distinct. RICE AND BEANS in coconut milk with thyme and Panama pepper — not gallo pinto; RONDÓN; PATÍ, the spiced beef turnover; PAN BON; agua de sapo; ginger beer; jerk-descended seasoning; and breadfruit, ackee and callaloo. ⚠ LIMONESE CREOLE ENGLISH (Mekatelyu) is the community language. Also Bribri and Cabécar territory in TALAMANCA, and the cacao that is both Indigenous and commercial.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Afro-Costa Ricans community documented
  • Bribri community documented
  • Cabécar community documented

Languages: Spanish, English, Bribri

What is recorded

  • Costa Rica’s 1949 constitution abolishes the restrictions that had barred Afro-Caribbean Costa Ricans from settling in the Central Valley. documented
  • Limón province was settled from the 1870s by Jamaican and other West Indian workers recruited for the Atlantic railway and subsequently the banana plantations. Afro-Caribbean Costa Ricans were legally restricted from settling in the Central Valley until 1949, which is documented as a direct cause of the distinctness of Limonese foodways. Limonese Creole English (Mekatelyu) is the community language. Rice and beans cooked in coconut milk is recorded as distinct from gallo pinto. documented
  • Jamaican and other West Indian workers are recruited to build the Atlantic railway to Limón and then to work the banana plantations. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • originates from Jamaican Foodways documented

    ⚠ Limón was settled by Jamaican and West Indian railway and banana workers from the 1870s, who were legally barred from the Central Valley until 1949 — which is why the food stayed distinct.

  • related to Caribbean documented

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.