Jamaica

Jamaican food burns with its own fire, from jerk-spiced meats smoked over pimento wood to the national dish of ackee and saltfish. Scotch bonnet heat, allspice, thyme, and one-pot rice and peas define an island cuisine with African, Indian, and British roots.

Jerk belongs to Portland parish on the northeast coast, and Boston Bay is where people go for it. The technique descends from the Maroons, communities of escaped enslaved Africans who cooked meat slowly over smouldering wood in the island's interior, and pimento, which the rest of the world calls allspice, supplies both the seasoning and the smoke.

Ackee is a West African tree whose name comes from the Twi word ankye; it reached Jamaica in 1778, most likely aboard a slave ship, and the botanical name Blighia sapida honours Captain Bligh, who carried plants the other way to England in 1793. The pods must be left to open on their own, because unripe ackee is genuinely poisonous.

Whole snapper fried crisp, then drenched in a hot vinegar pickle of onion, carrot, Scotch bonnet, and pimento.