Curaçao Dishes

Curaçao's national dish: a round of melted Gouda or Edam cheese filled with spiced stewed chicken, olives, capers, raisins, and prunes, then baked until golden.

Curaçao's golden deep-fried turnover, with a crisp pastry shell wrapped around cheese, spiced meat, or fish. The island's beloved breakfast and snack, eaten on the go.

The island's iconic bright-blue liqueur, distilled from the dried peel of the local laraha orange at Landhuis Chobolobo. Bittersweet, citrusy, and famously vivid.

Curaçao's everyday Creole stew: tender beef (or vegetables) simmered in a rich tomato-based sauce with onion, pepper, and island seasoning, served with funchi or rice.

A slow-cooked goat stew, a beloved Curaçaoan classic. Bone-in goat simmered until tender in a rich tomato-and-pepper sauce, served with funchi or pan bati.

Curaçao's everyday cornmeal polenta, stirred firm and shaped into a block, or pan-fried into crisp golden sticks. The island's go-to starch with stews and fish.

Fresh leeward red snapper, fried crisp or stewed Krioyo style with a tomato-and-onion sauce. Curaçao's classic catch-of-the-day plate, served with funchi or banana.

A dark, dense, rum-soaked dried-fruit cake, deeply spiced and intensely rich. Curaçao's prized celebration cake, made for weddings, Christmas, and special occasions.

A rich okra-and-seafood soup thickened to a silky body, loaded with fish and shellfish and traditionally eaten over funchi. A treasured Curaçaoan comfort dish.

A slightly sweet cornmeal flatbread, soft inside with a golden griddled crust. Curaçao's cross between a pancake and a bread, served to soak up stews and sauces.

A comforting Curaçaoan pumpkin soup, smooth and lightly spiced, made from local pumpkin simmered with onion and herbs. A gentle, everyday Krioyo bowl.

Cornmeal cooked with black-eyed peas into a dense, mildly sweet side, sometimes enriched with brown sugar and butter. A traditional Curaçaoan staple with stews and fish.