page_title: Belizean Creole people
section_title: Food and drink
hierarchical_section_title: Belizean Creole people / Food and drink
caption_attribution_description: Boil Up is a national dish in Belize and consists of boiled vegetables, egg, fish and bread dumpling (boiled dough). Hence its name. The onion soup, to the left of the beer bottle, was a side dish. Lunch at Deep Sea Marlin's Restaurant on Regent St West, Belize City
context_page_description: Belizean Creoles, also known as Kriols, are Creole descendants of Black Africans, who were enslaved and brought to Belize by English and Scottish log cutters, known as the Baymen. Over the years they have also intermarried with Miskito from Nicaragua, Jamaicans and other Caribbean people, mestizos, pardos, Europeans, Garifunas, Mayans, and Chinese and Indians. The latter were brought to Belize as indentured laborers. These varied peoples have all mixed to create this ethnic group.
  The Belize Kriol language, developed initially by interaction among the Africans and Europeans, was historically spoken only by them. The Creoles constituted the majority of the population until the 1980s and became synonymous with the Belizean national identity. As a result, the use of the Kriol language has become more widespread. It is now spoken by about 75% of Belizeans, including the many new immigrants who have arrived since the late 20th century. In the 21st century, Creoles are found predominantly in urban areas, such as Belize City, and in most coastal towns and villages.
context_section_description: Among the main staples of a Creole dinner are rice and beans with some type of meat, for example stewed chicken, baked chicken, stewed pork, stewed beef etc.; salad, whether potato, vegetable, or coleslaw; seafoods, including fish, conch, lobster; some game meats, including iguana, deer, peccary and gibnut; and ground foods such as cassava, potatoes, cocoa and plantains. Fresh juice or water are typically served, occasionally replaced by soft drinks and alcoholic beverages (homemade wines made from sorrel, berries, cashew, sorosi, grapefruit and rice are especially common).  Breakfasts usually include Creole bread and Kriol bun, johnny-cakes and frycakes (also called fry jacks). 
  Since the late 20th century, Creoles have adopted foods from other groups, particularly "Spanish" dishes made with tortillas. A more general national Belizean cuisine has developed and adopted traditional foods brought by the many Central American immigrants.
  Creoles in general eat a relatively balanced diet. The bile up (or boil up) is described above. Other important Creole foods are cowfoot soup, a thick stew with cocoyam and tripe, and a wide variety of dishes made with fish. Coconut milk and oil are common ingredients, though they have become increasingly rare and expensive. A plague of "lethal yellowing" killed most of the coconut trees in the 1990s. 
  In Belize, cassava was traditionally made into "bammy," a small fried cassava cake related to Garifuna cassava bread. The cassava root is grated, rinsed well, dried, salted, and pressed to form flat cakes about 4 inches in diameter and 1/2-inch thick. The cakes are lightly fried, then dipped in coconut milk and fried again. Bammies were usually served as a starchy side dish with breakfast, with fish dishes, or alone as a snack. Cassava Pone (Plastic Cake) is a traditional Belizean Creole and pan-West Indian cassava flour cake, sometimes made with coconuts and raisins. Other common desserts include Sweet Potato Pone, Bread Pudding, stretch-mi-guts (a kind of taffy), tableta (coconut crisp), wangla (sesame) and powderbun, as well as a variety of pies.
caption: Belizean boil up.  A combination of various boiled starches, vegetables and "bile cake", accompanied with either fish or pig tail
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