Floribbean cuisine

Floribbean cuisine refers to a fusion cuisine found in Florida. It is influenced by Latin American cuisine, Caribbean cuisine, Cuban cuisine, Soul food, Jamaican cuisine, Puerto Rican cuisine, Haitian cuisine, Bahamian cuisine, Jewish cuisine, and Asian cuisine.

Floribbean-style cooking also incorporates an exotic spice pantry: red curry, lemongrass, ginger, and scallions are as commonly used today in Floribbean cookery as grits and cobbler are in other parts of Florida.

As Floribbean cuisine evolved in South Florida it was strongly influenced by Asian culinary principles emphasizing the use of locally harvested Asian fruits and vegetables that will grow only in tropical and subtropical parts of the continental United States, where it rarely freezes.

Typical features of Floribbean cuisine include an emphasis on fresh ingredients and complex medleys of spices, especially strong flavors offset by milder ones. Floribbean cooking often uses less spicy heat than the Caribbean dishes that inspire it, but there is extensive use of several kinds of peppers. This pungency, however, is almost always moderated by the use of mango, papaya, rum, almond, coconut, key lime, or honey.

Latin-Floribbean cuisine mixes Floribbean cuisine with Latin-American cuisine, resulting in strong Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican influences.