Puerto Rican Food: Native Foods and Early Immigrant Influences

Since its discovery by Christopher Columbus in 1493, Puerto Rico has been enriched by and, in turn, has influenced the culinary styles of the various newcomers who have made the island their home. Caribbean cuisine has a rich and varied history, dating back to the days when the first inhabitants of the island began preparing such native foods as sweet potatoes, root plants, maize, and the fish and fowl that were to become the basis of what is called cocina criolla (native cooking).

At the time of Columbus’s voyage, the island was inhabited by a tribe of Caribbean Indians known as the Tainos. They were a simple people who had lived for generations on the island they called Borinquen, and they subsisted on what the island provided: fruit, corn, capsicum peppers (especially the large sweet bell peppers known as pimientos), wild birds, and abundant crabs and seafood. Their principal occupation was agriculture, and they cultivated tobacco and cotton. Their primary cooking utensils were made from clay or stone, particularly a vessel called the caldera, similar to a kettle. This has become one of the most versatile and popular cooking utensils in Puerto Rican cuisine—a cast-iron or cast-aluminum pot with a round bottom and straight sides, which is used for preparing stews and rice dishes. To the Tainos, food held religious importance. To accompany the dead into the afterlife, the Tainos buried vessels of food and drink so that the deceased would have provisions on their voyage to the next world.