Caribbean cuisine vs Mediterranean diet: which is healthier?

The Caribbean cuisine is getting popular. It has unique foods and flavors and might soon be the next big thing. But is it healthy? How does it compare with the Mediterranean diet?

What is the Caribbean cuisine?

The National Restaurant Association and other trend spotters have predicted that the Caribbean cuisine will soon be one of the top sought-after foods in the USA. The reason might be that after the pandemic, people are yearning for flavors that remind them of calmness and tranquility. And Caribbean islands are one of the most peaceful regions of the world due to their closeness to seas and Nature.

Restaurant menus now show these foods from the region such as the oxtail and seafood ceviche, Jamaican jerk chicken, habanero aioli, plantains and tropical fruits. And in this, Cuban food tops. The term Havana use has risen 53% in last 4 years (Datassential data) and come up in restaurant menus.

Basically, Caribbean cuisine is a melting pot of Latin American and African foods with influence of European nations of the UK, France, and Netherlands. The foods are delicious and healthy to a certain extent. At the same time, they are eco-friendly and least processed.

How to bring these flavors to your food plate?

In order to have those Caribbean tinge in our duet, we should broaden our daily fruits range. Incorporate tropical fruits (raw or cooked) in daily diet. This would include passion fruit, mango, dragon fruit, papaya, prickly pear and guava. All are imported to the USA and sold in supermarkets.

Tubers dominate Caribbean diets and are nutrients packed. These are yuca, cassava, taro, manioc, malanga, boniato, dasheen and Jerusalem artichoke or sunchoke. Some are available in USA supermarkets. You can add them to stews and soups or roast them or fried in an air fryer for a great eat.

Wild caught seafood is a prominent part of Caribbean diets. These are rich in proteins and healthy fats. Lobsters are often used in this cooking. This food is sustainable. Moreover, the Caribbean food dishes have a diverse flavor. The common flavors are tamarind, ginger, coconut, molasses, allspice (pimento), scotch bonnet peppers, habanero, other chili peppers, floral and fruity flavors.

Caribbean vs Mediterranean diet

The similarity between the two diets is in the inclusion of seafoods. But the Caribbean foods encompass a lot of meat such as beef, pork, and goat meat. Sweets and fried foods are also eaten in higher amounts there. Additionally, there is not much of olive oil in use on the Caribbean islands.

Therefore, the islanders suffer from obesity and other health issues. Hence traditional foods are not like the healthy Mediterranean diet. But educational efforts are on to make these people aware of healthy eating.

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Some critics accuse the western influence to cause health issues in the islanders. This is due to the trading of processed foods and opening of fast food restaurants on the islands. But attempts are on to return to traditional foodways on these islands and to make it more plant based.