Jamaica earned top honours at the 2024 World Culinary Awards, held in the UAE recently.
Culinary aficionados named Jamaica the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Destination, in 2024, and Montego Bay the Caribbean’s Best Culinary City, via online votes.
This marks the fifth consecutive year Jamaica has been awarded Best Culinary Destination in the Caribbean.
‘We are honoured to be recognised as the Caribbean’s top culinary destination and I am lucky to know firsthand why we are considered a culinary capital,’ said tourism minister Edmund Bartlett.
‘Through our strong linkages with our local farms and purveyors, we offer rich and varied flavours filled with influences from our culture as well as from around the globe. One of our most popular dishes is ackee and saltfish, our national dish, [then] our fan-favorite jerk chicken. There’s also nothing like our fresh tropical fruits, Jamaican rum and Blue Mountain coffee, and it’s warming to see that our cuisine is one of the reasons visitors return year after year.’
This award also marks the second consecutive year Montego Bay has been named the Caribbean’s Best Culinary City since the category was created in 2023.
This, Tourism Director Donovan White attributes to the multifaceted beauty of our second city.
‘Montego Bay is home to some of Jamaica’s best culinary experiences, from the oceanfront grills along the Hip Strip to all of the lively bars and fine dining [haunts],’ he said in a statement from the JTB.
‘In Mobay and beyond, our hard-working culinary professionals provide extraordinary dining experiences for locals and visitors alike, and we’re elated to see their dedication recognised globally.’
In the Caribbean’s Best Categories, Jamaica received four awards in the categories:
Caribbean’s Best Culinary Destination 2024
Caribbean’s Best Culinary City Destination 2024 – Montego Bay
Caribbean’s Best Hotel Restaurant 2024 – Sugar Mill @ Half Moon Jamaica
Caribbean’s Best Rooftop Restaurant 2024 – Altitude at Breathless Montego Bay Resort & Spa
The other seven awards for the 2024 season winners were:
A&B Masters (Dominican Republic) for the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Training Institution
Barbados Food and Rum Festival for the Caribbean’s Best Culinary Festival
Castries, St Lucia for the Caribbean’s Best Emerging Culinary City Destination
Scrimshaw @ Sandals Saint Vincent and the Grenadines for the Caribbean’s Best New Restaurant
Graycliff Restaurant (Bahamas) for the Caribbean’s Best Landmark Restaurant
Café Boulud The Bahamas for the Caribbean's Best Fine Dining Hotel Restaurant 2024
Fish by José Andrés @ Atlantis Paradise Island Bahamas for the Caribbean's Best Restaurant 2024
Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Curacao, and Grenada each received an award in their respective Best Hotel Restaurant and Best Restaurant categories.
Each Caribbean territory below won two consecutive awards for the Best Restaurant and Best Hotel Restaurant categories.
They are Anguilla, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthélemy, Saint Lucia, and Saint Martin.
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