Andrew F. Smith

Puerto Rican Food: Influence of the American Mainland

Appears in
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America
Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

By Andrew F. Smith

Published 2004

  • About
In 1898 the United States took possession of Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War, ending 405 years of Spanish rule. The mainland influence on Puerto Rico has been manifold. Once a backward Spanish possession, Puerto Rico by the dawn of the twenty-first century had the fourth-highest per capita income in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States, Canada, and Venezuela.

With U.S. control came the next social and culinary transition for Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans were introduced to new foods and cooking styles and adopted them or adapted them to their needs. They savor such dishes as butifarron (meat loaf), hamburgesa (hamburgers), carne de pote (corned beef), espinaca en crema (creamed spinach), and even budin (bread pudding).