Photo: Mychko Alexander/123rf

By Frank Martin

TTC Service- Aruba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Martinique are pioneers in attracting tourists and to the use of their kitchens as producers of tourist magic.

Other islands are taking extra steps so their respective kitchens do not go unnoticed and represent them. Among others Cuba.

The Caribbean destinations of sea, summer and nature spare no effort, or expense, in producing brochures, catalogs, websites and other promotional materials on their respective national ways of cooking.

Regional specialists believe that Dominican Republic owes a recent increase in visitor arrivals   to the aroma and flavor of its main dishes.

The Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores), reported that last January 465,229 tourists arrived in the country compared to 435,851 in the same month of 2015 for a 6.74% increase.

The aforementioned experts strongly believe that the diversification of the tourist offer in gastronomic has a positive influence for tourism success.

The reason why is that in Dominican gastronomy it is receiving strong support from institutions such as the Casa Caribe Gastronomic Cultural Center whose preferences rest on food national products

A new Mediterranean Hospitality Center is dedicated to teach principles of the magic of the table with the widest selection of cooking courses from the basic level to the advanced master and postgraduate certificates internationally.

For its part, Martinique has an aggressive reputation because of  its rich recipes, some spicy to which the island’s tourism industry defends as authentic

There a combination of locally prepared food, cocktails, rum, fruits and vegetables is used to represent the country’s heritage.

Jamaica feels backed by fruits and vegetables and Aruba offers all variants of Caribbean cuisine.

Historians indicate that Caribbean cuisine is a fusion of Creole, Native American, European and Latin American and African ingredients and formulas, as well as South Asia, the Middle East and Chinese.

The tourist can find anywhere in the Caribbean rice, bananas, beans, cassava, coriander, peppers, chickpeas, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, coconut and any of the various locally available meats such as beef, poultry, pork or fish.

Also garlic, onion, Scotch pepper, celery, green onion and herbs such as coriander, marjoram, rosemary, tarragon and thyme.

Cuba, with a placid and diverse table, which since the times of the Spanish colony appreciated its meals so much that thousands of specialized places offered them for centuries, has recently given a boost to its national cuisine.

Several institutions and even associations of bartenders and sommeliers joined together to organize a culinary workshop that was a success last January.

“Cuba continues with its intention to understand, promote and assume the values ​​of Cuban cuisine as history, tradition and modernity of this country,” said a comment from the country’s national press.