Pretty much every resort and tourism industry website in Belize has a blog post about what you should eat while visiting our beautiful country. (Check out our pick of these blog articles here: 1. Chaa Creek, 2. Caves Branch, 3. Belize.com 4. The Travel Channel 5. The Business Insider). Here at Taste Belize Tours, we think its equally important to know what NOT to eat. Lets face it. You planned this amazing adventure and have been waiting patiently to visit our incredible country. You deserve to eat the best and leave the rest. After all, you have limited time and limited meals and in our opinion they should be as amazing as possible. To that end. Let us tell you what NOT to eat while in Belize!

FRENCH FRIES. French fries in Belize are almost all of the pre-cut, imported from Idaho, frozen-in-a-10-pound-bag variety. Dumped in the fryer for a few minutes and then served up next your “Caribbean burger” (yes, that slice of grilled pineapple on top apparently makes it a regional specialty). These are a total waste of precious space in your vacationing stomach. WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD: Look for cassava chips, plantain chips, green fried plantain, fried breadfruit, or even plain old corn tortilla chips. Often hand cut and always fresh, these are local alternatives with their own amazing flavours. PRO TIP: if you are in our home base of Placencia, Belize, you can get some great cassava and plantain chips with your ceviche at Maya Beach Bistro or check for green fried plantain or fried breadfruit at Barefoot Bar or The Shak. Need something to go with that salsa? Get a bag of the freshest just-fried tortilla chips at Pop’s Tortilleria right on Main Street in downtown Placencia Village. Don’t miss out on the good stuff! Fried breadfruit is a seasonal specialty but if you see it don’t hesitate-these amazing golden moons of starchy goodness rival the best hand cut french fry. TRY IT WITH US: Join Taste Belize Tours on our walking food tours of Placencia Village to sample some of these deep fried delicacies!

A SANDWICH. Let us be honest with you. Here in Belize most of us don’t really consider a sandwich to be real food. A snack maybe, but a sandwich is most certainly not an acceptable meal by Belizean standards. If you want that amazing sub with all the cold cuts, a Reuben or a Philly cheese steak, wait and get them at home. For us Belizeans lunch is the biggest meal of the day and a sandwich simply wont cut it. WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD: Go big with a fully loaded Belizean rice and beans plate. These famous, affordable and hearty set-price meals involve an enormous mound of rice and beans (cooked in coconut milk if the venue is doing things properly) or white coconut milk rice topped with stewed beans in their own gravy. Stewed meats such as chicken, pork or beef or fried fish are the most common accompaniments, served alongside fried ripe plantain and a scoop of coleslaw or potato salad. If the season is right (and make sure it is, you don’t want to eat out of season lobster or deer!) you might find a place selling more exotic options such as stewed gibnut, deer or even lobster. If you see stewed lobster, don’t wait, order immediately! Like spicy? Ask for the hot sauce. If you’re lucky they will have Belize’s favorite homemade blend: “onion sauce” which also includes an ample supply of habanero to sharpen your appetite. Where to find these rice and beans plates? Just ask any Belizean wherever you are staying who has the best rice and beans in town. PRO TIP: Just remember, you can only get these meals at lunch time and the most popular spots often sell out by 1PM. So get there by 1130, come hungry, and plan for a nap on the beach afterwards. TRY IT WITH US: Join Taste Belize Tours for our lunch time walking food tour of Placencia Village and learn all about the difference between rice and beans and beans and rice as well as the key ingredients that make Belizean Creole food unique in Central America.

TERMITES. Well, actually they are a great source of protein and like to eat our houses, so maybe you SHOULD try them since your tour guide is so enthusiastic. Just don’t believe them when they tell you that termites taste “minty”. My professional tour guide opinion: termites taste like a woody carrot. Deep fried to a crunch they might really add something to a cream of carrot soup. WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD: Really though, if your guide recommends tasting a termite, (and in Belize chances are decent that one of your guides will), go for it! PRO TIP: Just make them eat one first. Fair’s fair after all. Our termites eat nothing but wood and they are so tiny they won’t take up precious space in your stomach. Which is important-you need to save that space for later because we aren’t done yet! TRY IT WITH US: Want a chance to sample a Belizean rain forest termite with Taste Belize Tours? Contact us today! And we promise, we will eat one with you!

A STEAK. Belize is chicken, pork and seafood country. While improving in quality every day, our steaks still tend to be tougher and chewier than North American beef. You have limited meals in Belize and we want you to have the very best of our country, so save your steak indulgence for that Argentina trip. WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD: If you are going to load up your tummy with animal protein, we recommend our flavourful, hormone free chicken or one of Belize’s exceptional pork chops. With our incredible 180 mile long barrier reef and hundreds of inner reef systems, amazing fresh caught seafood is a must when visiting coastal towns and villages like our home base of Placencia. Try lobster and conch in season, shrimp and crab when you find them or enjoy a delicious filet of snook, snapper, grouper or a tasty barracuda or king mackerel steak. PRO TIP: Fresh off the grill is a fun way to try Belizean chicken and pork and Saturday is the country’s official Barbecue Day of the Week so keep your eyes and nose out for the scent of charcoal. TRY IT WITH US: For amazing seafood on a Taste Belize Tour, try our Garifuna Cooking Class or our Dinnertime Village Food Tour! Want real Belizean style chickeny goodness? Then join us on a chocolate tour to Ixcacao Chocolate and devour the famed chocolate chicken dish exclusively served there, or join our Lunchtime Village Food Tour for a chance to sample Creole style stewed and baked chicken dishes.

THAT BAILEYS CHEESECAKE. Popping up on restaurant menus and chalkboards across the tourism zones of Belize, this rich dessert, while enticing, is an imported recipe made with imported Philadelphia cream cheese, imported graham crackers and imported Bailey’s Irish Cream. You might as well have it at the Cheesecake Factory. If you actually want to taste the real flavours of Belize, Bailey’s Cheesecake is NOT the dessert to choose. WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD: In downtown Placencia Village, head right down to Camz Sweet Sensations on Main Street on any weekday afternoon and evening for their outstanding lemon and coconut tarts. These classic Belizean pastries are home baked, bite sized and full of fresh-off-the-tree flavour. Depending on the day they might also have jam roll, coconut crust, milk cake, bread pudding or rice pudding in stock. Not staying in Placencia? You can find all these desserts across the country, just ask local Belizeans for recommendations on the best in their area. Wherever you are vacationing in Belize, make sure to seek out some of our world-class chocolate made with our renowned fine flavour cacao beans. San Pedro and Caye Caulker both host Belize Chocolate Company stores with decadent chocolate bars, brownies, and chocolate confections of all kinds. In our home village of Placencia you will find Goss Chocolate bars in every grocery store, and make sure to check out Moho Chocolate shop and our very own Taste Belize shop for Ixcacao Chocolate‘s fine dark chocolate bars and our famous dark and white chocolate fudge, all made farm-to-your mouth right in Belize. Frozen treats more your thing? Don’t miss Belize Ice Cream Shoppe in San Ignacio, Cayo and Belize City, In Placencia you must try Tutti Frutti Gelato Shop, a two minute walk south of our shop. Make sure to sample their tropical fruit flavours: passion fruit, coconut and, when in season, soursop! PRO TIP: If you see soursop anywhere in Belize make sure to try it! This delicious sweet/sour fruit is great fresh and also makes outstanding gelato, milkshakes and ice cream. TRY IT WITH US: Book our Dinnertime Village Food Tour of Placencia Village, Belize for a chance to eat your way through a plethora of Belizean Creole pastries, chocolate AND gelato! If you are staying in Placencia taking a chocolate tour with us to Ixcacao Chocolate or Cheil Chocolate to learn more about this amazing indulgence is a must!

NONI FRUIT. Wandering along a Belizean beach did you encounter, nestled in the sand, Picasso’s rendering of an enormous, slightly translucent yellow mulberry-shaped fruit the size of your fist? If so, you have discovered noni! The noni shrub (Morinda citrifolia) originated in the South Pacific but arrived in the Caribbean within the last 250 years. It is naturalized and common along the beaches and roadsides of Placencia Peninsula and other coastal and island communities like Hopkins, Caye Caulker and Ambergris Caye. When ripe the fruit fall to the ground, emitting a heady aroma reminiscent of sweaty gym socks, stinky cheese and vomit that garners them the occasional nickname “cheese fruit”. Butyric acid is to blame for their repulsive aroma and taste, but in Belize and around the world some people drink noni juice for its purported medicinal benefits. Don’t feel like sampling sweaty gym socks? Neither do we. WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD: Want to boost your immune system in this time of COVID? Don’t drink noni juice, drink bitters! Belizean drinking bitters, (or bittas as we call it in Belize), is made by infusing an anise liquor and rum base with a special blend of rain forest herbs, roots and barks that boost your immune system and (so everyone claims) improves your love life. You can find Gifitti, the commercial brand of Belizean drinking bitters produced by Travellers Liquors, Belize’s oldest distillery, in most grocery stores, but the best bitters are concocted by artisanal makers. In Placencia Village Barefoot Bar is a great place to sample local bitters. True to the name, bitters, has a somewhat bitter finish due to the potent botanicals infused into the liquor, but if you enjoy Campari, gin or Jagermeister you may relish Belizean Bittas-a botanical boost that doesn’t taste at all like vomit or stinky cheese. PRO TIP: Pineapple juice is a great chaser to a shot of Belizean bitters.) TRY IT WITH US: Want to head into the jungle for a real bitters making adventure? Check out our bitters tour! Or just join us for a shot of the good stuff on our Placencia Village walking food tours!

PROTECTED WILDLIFE & OUT OF SEASON SEAFOOD & GAME MEAT: 40 years ago sea turtle steak was common fare in restaurants along the Belizean coast. In days gone by, sea turtle, manatees, tapir, even howler monkeys were fair game for hunters and fishermen looking to fill the pot. Today these animals are all protected species, but occasional poaching still occurs. Please help save the incredibly rich biodiversity of Belize by refusing to participate in the catching, killing or eating of any protected species or any game meat or seafood that is out of season. Closed seasons for coveted seafood like lobster and queen conch are essential as they allow these species to reproduce so they can be fished and eaten by future generations. The same applies to the closed seasons for game animals on land such as gibnut, white tailed and red brocket deer and white lipped and collared peccaries. See hunting seasons and laws for game animals here and fishing seasons for sea food here and in public announcements made by the Belize Fisheries Department every year. WHAT TO EAT INSTEAD: Why don’t you leave animal protein aside entirely and enjoy a different catch of the day: Belize’s famous seaweed, euchema isiforme! This brown algae is farmed off the coast of Placencia and contains as much protein as soybeans. Euchema is an incredible source of iodine and potassium and contains high levels of magnesium and calcium. Staying in Placencia? Try Euchema in its most popular form: as a rich and thick smoothie, at The Shak Cafe near the Placencia Village Pier or Brewed Awakenings on Main Street. PRO TIP: Ask any licensed guide or park ranger if you are not sure whether a particular game meat or sea food is in season during your stay. TRY IT WITH US: Join our Placencia Village Walking Food Tours to learn all about this seaweed and taste a seaweed smoothie or buy the seaweed and make it yourself at our shop on Main Street, downtown Placencia.

This list is far from exhaustive, but remember: When in Belize: 1. Choose local over imported. 2. Get out of your comfort zone and taste new things and 3. Most importantly, ask Belizeans in the area you are staying for recommendations of where to find the best Belizean food and what cultural specialties you should try. The most delicious food in Belize is often hidden in a tupperware container, or behind an unmarked door, so getting local guidance is the best way to find the secret hot spots in each town or village. Want more Belizean food? Check out our article on a dozen delicacies we think you shouldn’t miss, visit our website or contact us to learn more about our famous food and culture tours!

Lyra Spang is a culinary anthropologist, organic farmer, licensed tour guide, proud Belizean and founder of Taste Belize Tours.