A stay on the island of Aruba cannot be separated from a journey to discover its flavors:Aruba is a foodie paradise and home to more than 90 nationalities, which is reflected in the diversity of its cuisine. In Aruba, the term "local cuisine" means everything and nothing:discover how the melting pot of cultures helped create a cuisine that is a blend of Dutch, South American, Caribbean and North American influences, from the haute cuisine from multi-chefs – rewarded for the simplest dishes of the Aruban tradition.
The traditional cuisine of Aruba
Aruba's traditional cuisine has been influenced by Native Americans, merchants, pirates, the Dutch and Spanish colonial powers, African slaves, and immigrants from Asia. The people of Aruba mix everything with Caribbean flavors and the local cuisine today offers seafood dishes, stews, Creole specialties, fruits and vegetables typical of the Caribbean.
Try the delicious seafood soups or freshly caught fish:wahoo, red snapper, mahi mahi and barracuda, which are served in a variety of preparations, including fried and grilled. All accompanied by the typical spicy sauce of Creole origin based on tomatoes, peppers and onions called pica, highly recommended!
And again, try a beef stew, chicken or the sweeter goat meat served with rice and beans (arroz moro). But the most famous stew is Keshi Yena (literally cheese stew), a traditional recipe made by stuffing a hollowed-out Edam or Gouda cheese with seasoned meat, onion, tomato, green pepper, olives, capers, raisins and piccalilli; cover the mold with its original hat and bake the filled mold in the oven until hot.
Finally the national snack: pastechi, the irresistible crescent of filled shortcrust pastry. The classic Aruban pastechi is obtained by filling a bag of slightly sweet dough with cheese and then frying it, but there are many more variants based on ham, beef, chicken and fish.
