Local Dishes

1. Diri kole ak pwa

   Rice cooked together with beans

   Usage

   The typical Haitian plate: rice cooked together with red kidney beans (pinto beans are also common). Distinct from Sòs pwa, where the beans are cooked separately and poured over the rice

2. Sòs pwa

   Bean purée poured over rice

   Usage

   A sauce made from dried beans: boiled with garlic and bay until they burst, then blended and strained. Served poured over white rice; the thickness is a matter of how much liquid is left in

3. Diri ak lalo

   Rice cooked with jute leaves

   Usage

   It comes from the Artibonite department (Latibonit), Haiti's main rice-growing region. A strongly regional plate — not always on menus in the capital

4. Mayi moulen

   Savoury cornmeal porridge

   Usage

   A cornmeal porridge similar to polenta or grits, eaten in place of rice as the starch of the meal. Usually topped with sòs pwa or a stew

5. Griyo

   Citrus-marinated pork, braised then fried

   Usage

   A Haitian speciality of pork marinated in citrus, braised and then fried; almost always served with pikliz and either rice or fried plantain. The braising liquid becomes a sauce called sòs ti-malis. ⚠ Menus very often print the French spelling "griot" — same dish

6. Taso

   Fried goat meat

   Usage

   "Kabrit taso" (vyann kabrit fri — fried goat meat); the menu name is "Taso ak bannann peze". The beef version is taso bèf. ⚠ Menus sometimes print the French spelling "tassot"

7. Poul nan sòs

   Chicken in Creole sauce

   Usage

   Written both "Poul an Sòs" and "Poul nan sòs kreyòl". The flavour base is epis, a paste of peppers, garlic and herbs that seasons most Haitian cooking

8. Boulèt

   Fried meatballs

   Usage

   It has three senses; the third is "a small ball made of meat and fried in oil". The first sense is just "a little ball", so use the word in the context of a fritay stall or a menu

9. Aransò

   Dried smoked herring

   Usage

   A fish called aran, dried and smoked, used in spaghetti and saucy pasta dishes. Very salty. It is what gives Haitian breakfast spaghetti its flavour

10. Soup joumou

    Squash soup eaten on Independence Day

    Usage

    Each first of January, Haiti's independence day, no family fails to gather all its members to share a pot of soup joumou. Squash with beef, chicken, pasta, cabbage, potato and turnip. Known as the soup of freedom

11. Soup pen

    Bread soup

    Usage

    A Haitian dish made mainly with bread, seasoned with leek, garlic, ginger, onion and leafy greens such as spinach and watercress. Built on the same aromatics as soup joumou

12. Bouyon

    Hearty meat-and-root-vegetable soup

    Usage

    A staple soup: meat simmered with starchy roots — plantain, sweet potato, cassava, yam, taro. Made in a big pot for weekends and gatherings

13. Sòkòy

    Northern-Haitian pigeon-pea and dumpling stew

    Usage

    A bouyon made with dried pigeon peas, meat, donbwèy (dumplings) and starchy roots — plantain, sweet potato, cassava, yam, taro; the name is used mainly in northern Haiti

14. Tonmtonm

    Mashed breadfruit with okra sauce

    Usage

    One of the most popular breadfruit (lam) dishes in Haiti: peeled, boiled and pounded to a paste, served with an okra sauce with beef, poultry or crab. Associated with the city of Jérémie. ⚠ Locally it is swallowed rather than chewed

15. Zokan

    Cornmeal version of tonmtonm

    Usage

    A food eaten the same way as tonmtonm, but made with corn flour — the stand-in where or when breadfruit is not available

16. Bannann peze

    Twice-fried flattened plantain

    Usage

    Green plantain fried, flattened, then fried again. The default side with griyo and taso, normally alongside pikliz

17. Akra

    Spicy fried malanga fritters

    Usage

    Spicy fried malanga fritters, called akra. A fixture of fritay stalls, handed over hot in a twist of paper

18. Marinad

    Savoury fried dough ball

    Usage

    A soft dough of flour, water and salt, with baking soda, butter, parsley and pepper added, dropped into hot oil by the spoonful. Distinct from pate chodyè, which has a firmer dough and takes a filling

19. Pate kòde

    Half-moon fried meat pastry

    Usage

    A fridòdòy (snack) of Haitian fritay — wheat or corn dough filled with boiled egg, ground meat, onion and tomato, sealed into a half-moon and deep-fried. The classic roadside stall snack

20. Fritay

    Fried street food (collective term)

    Usage

    The collective term for fried foods; also said "fritay ayisyen". The word on a stall marks the fry stand, where griyo, taso, akra, marinad, pate kòde and bannann peze are laid out together

21. Pikliz

    Spicy pickled cabbage relish

    Usage

    Shredded carrot and cabbage with onion and hot peppers, seasoned with lemon juice or vinegar; served alongside fried plantain and other plates. ⚠ Genuinely hot. To skip it: "San pikliz, souple"

22. Kasav

    Thin flatbread of bitter cassava

    Usage

    A thin, dry galette made from bitter cassava — grated, pressed to remove the toxic juice, dried, then baked on a griddle called a plat kasav. Keeps well, so it doubles as a store food

23. Bobori

    Thick round cassava bread

    Usage

    Widely enjoyed in Haiti: round, made from bitter cassava, like kasav but thicker and firmer, cream-coloured. Eaten at breakfast or supper

24. Labouyi

    Milky flour porridge

    Usage

    Made from flour, milk, cinnamon, salt, sugar and vanilla; typically cooked in the evening as nourishing food for children. Versions exist with rice flour, cornmeal, banana, cassava flour and potato flour

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