Jamaica Research Papers

For this research paper, I chose the country and Island of Jamaica as the culture group to which to write this paper. I chose to do my paper on the country and culture of the Island of Jamaica, because I thought that it would be an interesting place to learn a little about and also to see what some of the kinds of food dishes they server there are. Some of the information that I looked up for this paper were what the core foods and spices consumed are, what the historical, cultural and religious impacts that led to Jamaican’s current diet, and what the general nutrient quality and healthfulness of Jamaican’s diet is. The core foods that are currently being consumed within the country of Jamaica have been influenced greatly by other countries

The historical impact on Jamaicans diets can be seen very early on in Jamaica’s history. The island of Jamaica’s original inhabitants were a population of people who were an Amerindian tribe known as the Arawaks. The Arawaks grew different fruits and vegetables such as a spinach-like callaloo, guava and papayas. Every year the Arawaks grew two crops each of maize (also known as corn), peanuts, beans, potatoes, and peppers (Food in Every Country.). Western barbecue origins can be traced back to the Arawaks roasting seafood and meat on a grate suspended on four-forked sticks called a barbacoa. During the late 1400s, Jamaica (known as Xaymaca at the time) was invaded by the Spanish. The Spanish were responsible for importing many of the plants for which Jamaica is now known. Some examples of the types of plants that was imported into Jamaica by the Spanish are the sugar cane, limes, lemons, and coconuts (Food in Every Country.). Besides importing plants into Jamaica, the Spanish also were responsible for bringing over different species of animals to the island. The different animals that the Spanish brought to Jamaica were pigs, goats, and cattle. After the Spanish invaded Jamaica, the Spanish began to trade slaves from Africa’s west coast in Jamaica. When the slaves left Africa and went to Jamaica, they brought with them a tree called an

From a 2011 Human Development Report, Jamaica ranked 78 out of 187 countries around the world on the human development index based on indicators such as life expectancy at birth and expected years of schooling. The poverty rate in Jamaica is at 16.5%, which has increased over the previous years. Unemployment in the country is 14.8% of women are unemployed, and 8.6% of men are unemployed (UNFPA Caribbean). The life expectancy for the people of Jamaica is very close with 71.54 years for men and 75.03 years for women. The infant mortality rate within the country of Jamaica is 15.98 deaths for every 1,000 living births (Facts About