Curaçao

🇦🇼Aruba

Aruban Cornmeal Pancake

Pan Bati

Pan bati is a soft, thin Aruban cornmeal pancake made with flour and sugar on a flat griddle, eaten sweet at breakfast or savory with soups and sauces.

🇦🇼Aruba

Aruban Fried Empanada

Pastechi

A traditional Aruban breakfast and snack: a deep-fried crescent pastry filled with cheese, chicken, beef, tuna, or vegetables, seasoned with onion, green pepper, celery, raisins, cumin, nutmeg, and hot pepper.

🇦🇼Aruba

Aruban Fried Fish

Pisca Hasa

Pisca hasa is fish fried until crisp and served with creole sauce; Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire each have named island forms, including Piska Korá and Bonaire Piska Hasá.

🇦🇼Aruba

Banana Hasa

Banana hasa (fried plantain); a popular Aruban side dish; plantains fried as a sweet accompaniment; never eaten raw; served with stews, fish, and meat dishes; a staple of Aruban cuisine.

🇦🇼Aruba

Beef Stew

Carni Stoba

Carni stoba; a classic Aruban beef stew; beef slow-cooked with potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and chili peppers in a tomato-based gravy; a staple of Aruban cuisine; served with funchi or pan bati; requires 2-3 hours of braising; a hearty, comforting dish; a feature of everyday Aruban meals.

🇳🇱Netherlands

Bitter Balls

Bitterballen

Small round version of kroket made with beef or veal ragout, popular bar snack served with mustard, traditionally with liquors.

🇨🇼Curaçao

Black Cake

Bolo Pretu

Bolo pretu (black cake); a traditional Curaçaoan festive cake; a rich, dark fruitcake; a feature of celebrations and special occasions; a reflection of Dutch and Caribbean influences

🇦🇼Aruba

Black-Eyed Pea Fritters

Cala

Cala; black-eyed pea fritters; beans soaked overnight in water, peeled, ground, and fried in ball shapes; a popular Aruban snack; a feature of roadside snack-bars; a staple of Aruban street food

🇨🇼Curaçao

Blue Curaçao

Blau Curaçao

Blue Curaçao; a liqueur originating from the island; crafted from the dried peels of the Laraha citrus fruit, found exclusively in Curaçao; a bitter-fruited descendant of the Valencia orange; made since 1896; for its vivid blue hue

🇨🇼Curaçao

Bolo di Banana

A moist Curaçaoan banana cake sweetened with brown sugar and spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, often studded with raisins.

🇦🇼Aruba

Cheese Balls

Bolita di Keshi

Bolita di keshi are crisp fried balls of grated Gouda or Edam bound with flour and egg, a cheese-forward snack sold at Aruban bakeries and roadside snack-bars.

🇦🇼Aruba

Chicken Stew

Galina Stoba

Galina stoba; a traditional Aruban chicken stew; chicken slow-cooked with potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, and spices; a staple of Aruban cuisine; served with white rice and beans (arroz moro) or funchi; a hearty, comforting dish; a feature of everyday Aruban meals

🇦🇼Aruba

Christmas Tamale

Ayaca

Ayaca; a Christmas staple in Aruba with as many recipes as families; cornmeal dough spread on banana or plantain leaves; filled with chicken, pork, prunes, raisins, olives, cashew nuts, ham, and piccalilli; folded in leaves, tied with string, and boiled for an hour; families come together to prepare it listening to Christmas music

🇨🇼Curaçao

Coconut Cake

Bol di Coco

Bol di coco; a traditional Curaçaoan coconut cake; a sweet delight of Krioyo cuisine; made with fresh coconut; a feature of celebrations and gatherings; a reflection of the island's tropical ingredients

🇦🇼Aruba

Cornmeal Polenta

Funchi

Funchi; a cornmeal polenta-like side dish; one of the three core ingredients of Aruban cuisine; served with nearly every stew; a legacy of indigenous Arawak corn cultivation; a gluten-free corn-based side; designed to balance strong stew flavors

🇦🇼Aruba

Cornmeal with Black Beans

Tutu

Tutu; a cornmeal and mashed black-eyed pea side dish; a gluten-free corn-based side; beans and sugar cooked into funchi; a staple of Aruban cuisine; served with stews to balance strong flavors; appears at traditional meals

🇳🇱Netherlands

Croquette

Kroket

A Dutch breadcrumbed ragout croquette, served alone or in a soft roll with mustard.

🇨🇼Curaçao

Curaçao Orange

Laraha

Laraha is a bitter citrus associated with Curaçao, a descendant of Valencia orange whose dried peels flavor Blue Curaçao liqueur.

🇳🇱North Holland, Netherlands

Edam Cheese

Edammer kaas

Semi-hard cheese with mild sweet to piquant flavor depending on maturity, spherical shape with red wax coating, PGI status.

🇨🇼Curaçao

Empana

Empana; a traditional Curaçaoan stuffed pastry; filled with cheese, meat, fish, or chicken; a popular snack and street food; a feature of roadside snack-bars and bakeries; a staple of Curaçaoan cuisine; a grab-and-go treat; similar to pastechi but with its own distinct preparation.

🇦🇼Aruba

Fish Balls

Frekedel

Frekedel (balchi di pisca); fish balls made from shredded fish, eggs, spices, and breadcrumbs; deep-fried; served with funchi or pan bati and banana hasa; a popular Aruban snack and side; a feature of roadside snack-bars; a staple of Aruban street food

🇨🇼Curaçao

Fish Soup

Sopi di Piska

Sopi di Piska; Curaçao's fish soup; freshly caught fish with vegetables, herbs, and a hint of lime; both refreshing and comforting; fish paired with plantains and yucca; a staple in local households and restaurants; a reflection of the island's maritime heritage; a dish after a day on the beach.

🇪🇸Spain

Flan

Flan de huevo

Spain's classic caramel custard made with eggs, milk, and sugar, with a soft caramel sauce on top, found in every Spanish home and restaurant.

🇦🇼Aruba

Goat Stew

Cabrito Stoba

Cabrito stoba; a traditional Aruban goat stew; goat meat slow-cooked with potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, green peppers, nutmeg, and hot peppers; served at celebrations; accompanied by funchi or pan bati; goat thrives in Aruba's rocky terrain; a staple of traditional stoba cuisine; requires 3-4 hours of cooking.

🇳🇱South Holland, Netherlands

Gouda Cheese

Goudse kaas

Netherlands' most famous cheese, semi-hard cow's milk cheese with creamy and sweet flavor, aged for varying periods.

🇨🇼Curaçao

Green Rum

Ròm Bèrdè

Ròm bèrdè (green rum); a traditional Curaçaoan drink; a local rum-based beverage; a feature of the island's culinary landscape; a popular local drink; a reflection of Caribbean rum traditions

🇨🇼Curaçao

Iguana Soup

Sopi di Yuana

Sopi di Yuana is a Curaçaoan soup made with iguana, local herbs, vegetables, and garlic; include it only where current wildlife rules permit a lawful, locally available preparation.

🇨🇼Curaçao

Iguana Stew

Yuana Stobá

Yuana stoba is a Curaçaoan iguana stew with tomato, onion, lime, sweet pepper, and bay leaf; include it only where current wildlife rules permit a lawful, locally available preparation.

🇦🇼Aruba

Johnny Cake

Johnny cake; a traditional Aruban fried bread; made with flour, water, yeast, lard, and sugar; fried in oil; served with cheese or bacalao (salt cod); a popular snack and breakfast item; a feature of roadside snack-bars; a staple of Aruban street food

🇨🇼Curaçao

Kadushi Cactus

Kadushi

Kadushi (candle cactus); an abundant natural resource of Curaçao; used to make traditional kadushi soup; spines removed, peeled, and the insides ground and boiled; a resourceful island ingredient; a distinctive Curaçaoan specialty

🇨🇼Curaçao

Kadushi Soup

Sopi di Kadushi

Kadushi soup; a traditional Curaçaoan cactus soup made from the kadushi (candle cactus); cactus spines removed, peeled, and the insides ground and boiled; thickened with salted beef, salted pig's tail, dried shrimp, and clams; served with funchi; a resourceful island invention using abundant natural resources; a distinctive Curaçaoan specialty.

🇧🇶Bonaire

Ko'i Lechi

Ko'i lechi is a Curaçaoan pudding of sweet corn kernels simmered in sweetened coconut milk until creamy, then served warm or chilled.

🇧🇶Bonaire

Kokada

A chewy Curaçaoan coconut sweet made from grated coconut cooked with sugar and often flavored with ginger or cinnamon.

🇦🇼Aruba

Madame Jeanette

Pica Madame Jeanette

Madame Jeanette pepper; a core ingredient of Aruban cuisine; a hot pepper hotter than jalapeño with fruity notes; used to flavor almost every dish; processed into hot sauce that is a much-wanted souvenir; encountered everywhere on the island

🇮🇩Indonesia

Mee Goreng

Bami goreng

Fried noodles with spices, vegetables, and protein, wok hei with balanced seasoning and fresh ingredients, a daily Malaysian street food staple, versatile

🇧🇶Bonaire

Pan Sera

Pan sera is a dense Curaçaoan farmer's cheese, pressed and salted until firm enough to grate or slice for sandwiches and snacks.