Haitian cooking is one of the Caribbean's great cuisines, built on African traditions with French and indigenous Taino influences. It relies on slow cooking, citrus marinades, and a base paste called epis — a blend of scotch bonnet peppers, scallions, garlic, and herbs that goes into almost everything.
Griot is the national dish: pork shoulder marinated in citrus and epis, braised until tender, then deep-fried until crispy on the outside. Served with diri ak pwa (rice and red kidney beans) and pikliz — a fiery pickled cabbage and carrot slaw that cuts through the richness of the pork. If you eat nothing else in Haiti, eat this.
Tassot is the beef or goat equivalent: dried, seasoned, and fried. Chewier than griot, usually served the same way with rice, beans, and fried plantains.
Diri ak pwa (rice and beans) is the everyday staple. Kidney beans are standard, but black beans, black-eyed peas, and pigeon peas each appear depending on the region and season. The beans are cooked with coconut milk in some variants; the result is more flavourful than it sounds.
Soup joumou is served every January 1st to mark independence. A rich pumpkin and beef soup, it commemorates the day enslaved people were finally able to eat the soup they had been forced to make for their French masters but were forbidden to consume themselves. It is still eaten as an act of national pride.
Street food is everywhere: fried dough (beignets), pâtés (flaky pastry stuffed with spiced meat), bannann peze (pressed fried plantain), and fritay (mixed fried snacks). Market food is excellent and extremely cheap.
Rhum Barbancourt is Haiti's celebrated rum, distilled from sugarcane juice rather than molasses. The aged reserves — Réserve du Domaine and the 15-Year Reserve — are among the finest rums in the Caribbean. Available everywhere.