The Africans carried their own culinary secrets with them, including duckunoo, a steamed pudding made of green bananas and coconut. Breadfruit arrived on the island courtesy of Captain William Bligh, of Bounty fame. And the ubiquitous meat patties sold by roadside vendors are a direct, but much spicier, descendent of English meat pasties.

Curried goat, a popular island dish often served with rice and peas, dates to 1845 when -- following the abolition of slavery -- plantation owners began importing indentured laborers from India and later China; the new arrivals quickly added their own contributions, including curry and other spices, to the island's expanding palette of exotic flavors.

In addition to indigenous vegetables like cho-cho, which tastes a little like squash, and callaloo, which is similar to spinach and used in pepperpot soup, Jamaica's lively markets are piled high with bananas, coconuts and pineapples, as well as the more exotic guineps, pawpaws, sweetsops -- and the star apple that, when mixed with oranges and condensed milk, makes a delicious dessert called "matrimony."

The native pimento tree, the source of allspice, adds itself to numerous Jamaican dishes. So do ginger, garlic, nutmeg and Scotch Bonnet peppers, considered the hottest on earth. These may or not be a key ingredient of the island's famous Pickapeppa Sauce -- the recipe is a closely guarded secret -- but they're essential when it comes to making the mouth-searing jerked pork, chicken and fish for which Jamaica is equally famous.

A technique thought to originate with the Maroons, descendents of slaves who escaped from their Spanish masters to the island's most remote mountain areas, "jerked" meat is marinated for hours in an incendiary mixture of peppers, pimento seeds, scallion, thyme and nutmeg, then cooked over an outdoor pit lined with pimento wood. The low heat allows the meat to cook slowly, so it loses little of its natural juices while becoming saturated with the flavor of the wood.

Jerk stands can be found all over the island. Rastafarian I-tal, or vegetarian, meals abound in Negril. In the Middle Quarters area of the South Coast, dried peppered shrimp are sold by the bag. Delicacies like Stamp and Go (saltfish cakes eaten as appetizers) and mackerel Run-Down (whole salted mackerel simmered in coconut milk, tomatoes, onions, scallions, thyme and hot peppers, and served with boiled green bananas or yams) can be enjoyed island-wide.

Wherever you are in Jamaica, you'll find places to sample the diversity of flavors and ingredients offered by the unique local menu, from open-air beach restaurants to first-class dining rooms in top hotels.

For elegance and atmosphere, try the Blue Mountain Inn, one of the country's best-known restaurants, where gourmet meals are served in a garden setting not far from New Kingston. Further up in the Blue Mountains, the restaurant at Strawberry Hill features such innovative entrees as jerked lamb with guava, and fish grilled in a mango marinade.

In Montego Bay, choices range from the casual Pork Pit, where jerked pork is the specialty, to the historic Town House Restaurant, where the red snapper and Jamaican stuffed lobster attracts such celebrity diners as Marlon Brando and Paul McCartney. Or try Norma's on the Wharf, where the menu features an ever-changing variety of nouvelle-style entrees that take Jamaican cooking into new culinary dimensions.

"Rasta pasta" is a highlight of dining at Evita's, a popular Jamaican-Italian eatery in Ocho Rios; the Almond Tree restaurant is another local favorite and serves excellent pepperpot soup.

In Negril, the Mirage Hotel's Cafe au Lait offers delectable Jamaican variations of classic French dishes, as does the Charela Inn's Le Vendome. (Both also have extensive wine lists.)