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Bay Islands Foodways

Islas de la Bahía

Island

⚠ A DISTINCT ISLAND FOODWAY AND NOT AN APPENDIX TO CARIBBEAN HONDURAS. ROATÁN, UTILA and GUANAJA with their cayes were a British possession until 1861, were settled by Cayman Islanders, English, Scots and freed and escaped Africans, and their people speak ENGLISH — Bay Islands English — as a first language. The food is West Indian, not Honduran mainland: CONCH — stewed, fritters, soup, where legal; LOBSTER, the islands’ major fishery and export; fish, king crab; RICE AND BEANS in coconut milk with thyme; coconut bread and JOHNNYCAKE; plantain tarts; PAN DE COCO; CONCH SOUP and fish tea; ginger beer. ⚠ THE GARIFUNA LANDED FIRST ON ROATÁN in 1797 and the islands hold Garifuna communities as well. ⚠ AND CONSERVATION IS PART OF THIS FOODWAY: queen conch is CITES-listed and the spiny lobster fishery is regulated with a closed season, after documented depletion and a diving-injury record among Miskito lobster divers that is a labour-safety matter as much as a food one.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Bay Islanders community documented
  • Garifuna community documented

Languages: English, Spanish, Garifuna

What is recorded

  • The Bay Islands were a British possession until their cession to Honduras in 1861 and were settled substantially from the Cayman Islands from the 1830s, alongside English and Scottish settlers and freed and escaped Africans. English is a first language on the islands. Their foodways are recorded as West Indian and distinct from mainland Caribbean Honduran foodways rather than as a variation of them. Queen conch is listed on CITES Appendix II and the spiny lobster fishery operates under a closed season following documented depletion. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Bay Islands and North Coast Creole Foodways documented
  • related to British Caribbean Food Culture documented

    The Bay Islands were settled by CAYMAN ISLANDERS from the 1830s and the kinship and the kitchen both record it. ⚠ THERE IS NO CAYMAN ISLANDS ENTITY IN THIS CORPUS YET, so this edge points at the nearest TRUE entity rather than inventing one; when Cayman is built, this should be repointed at it.

  • related to Caribbean documented

    ⚠ A British possession until 1861, settled from the Cayman Islands; the islands are West Indian and English-speaking.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.