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Jamaican Box Food
For Breakfast, Lunch Or Dinner!

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Jamaican Box FoodJamaican Box Food | Rice And Peas, Chicken and Vegetables

by Sheree-Anita Shearer | Associate Writer

Jamaicans will find the most convenient way to eat the foods they love. And oh the joy we found when we discovered that we could have our favourite meals on the go. This is how the Jamaican box food came about. It really became popular as a lunch item but it has long since moved past that and is now used for breakfast, lunch and dinner on the go.

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What Is Jamaican Box Lunch?

A Jamaican box food or box lunch is essentially takeout served in a disposable container. In the early days it was literally a cardboard box. It could be any of our favourite dishes for any meal of the day.

While I don’t consider Jamaican box food, fast food, it is just that in actuality. That is how it is treated. You can quickly buy and rush to work or school or eat quickly in your car, at your desk or in the park before without disrupting your day too much.

Don’t expect a lot of excitement and fanfare from these establishments either. Box lunches, in most cases, are sold at simple corner shops and local restaurants. Some shops will be so small, they don’t have the space to allow you to sit down and eat. However, what it lacks in size it definitely makes up for in flavour and variety.

What Is A Typical Jamaican Box Food Like?

You can usually tell before going into a local corner shop restaurant what is on the menu before setting foot inside. Only a few venture out into the more adventurous dishes. The usual suspects are fish, pork, beef, curry goat, vegetarian options and several variations of chicken.

Because of the many influences on Jamaica’s cuisine, you can also find quite a few shops that will do dishes with Chinese or Indian influences such as fried rice, sweet and sour chicken or roti and different types of curried meats. 

It is a running joke on the island that walking into a Jamaican cookshop can be a hit or miss. No, not because the food isn’t great, but because more often than not, what you actually want is not there.

Quite often we hear “What you want?” when we enter. Followed quickly by a “We nuh have that” or “that nuh ready yet” In this case, you have to make a decision, do you have the 5 minutes (35 minutes) to wait on the chicken to be fried, or will you settle for stew chicken tonight.

Why Is Jamaican Box Food So Popular?

It isn’t just one reason. Not only are you able to have a filling and delicious meal, but it is also considerably cheaper than other types of fast food. I am assuming this is because the ingredients are locally sourced. Importantly, they are generally cheaper than other restaurants and eateries.

Box lunches are popular with nearly all categories of working people such as construction workers, taxi drivers, BPO staff, security guards and high school students. It checks off in all the right boxes and you won’t have to think too hard about what it is that you are buying, you already know what’s there. Not to mention the long lines you avoid. There is hardly any ever, especially if you beat the lunchtime rush.

Don’t expect to see just middle class eating from the famous clamshell or “coffin” boxes though. Everyone, from all walks of life, digs into one daily. Some people even joke that if it wasn’t already Ackee and Saltfish, the Jamaican box lunch would actually be our National Dish.

If it is your local cookshop, you might even have a number to call and place your order ahead of time. Some small establishments even now have delivery services as well, at an additional cost of course. Most, especially in local areas, still count on the taxi drivers on the route who will drop the meal off for you. However, you will have to wait by your gate or they will forget.

Jamaican Box lunches usually come in three sizes and while the price changes depending on the order itself, it hardly ever costs more than $1,000 for a large box.

And if you have eaten in Jamaica before, you know Jamaicans don’t consider portion sizes when sharing. A small box lunch is usually two pieces of chicken along with rice and peas and vegetables. With that information, I will leave you to guess what a large meal looks like.

Some restaurants have even come up with alternative sizing options outside of just small, medium or large. Some have opted for pricing based on how many meat/protein options you are choosing.

Some also have a lunch special or "schoolaz" (schoolers) special which runs from 11am-2pm most times. This is a basic meal of a single protein option, rice and peas with vegetables, served in a small container and usually comes with a drink.

Rice And Peas, Fried Chicken And Curry Gravy?

An odd-sounding meal right? Not when you are from Jamaica! Ordering one meat option and choosing another gravy on your rice is completely normal here and we do it with other meals too, such as Oxtail, Stew Beef and Curry Goat. So much so that some restaurants charge an extra 30-50 Jamaican dollars for a different gravy.

We are all familiar with the styrofoam boxes that our food used to come in. However,  in recent times, changes have been made to the look of the Jamaican box lunch container. The government is committed to reducing the stress our daily activities cause to our environment. As such the use of single-use plastics and styrofoam have been banned.

Our favourite meals now come in cardboard or reusable plastic containers, which initially took some getting used but now we have grown accustomed to our new way of life.

While we all indulge in fast food quite often, we do love and will still go for a Jamaican box food instead. Afterall it is a fast, tasty and filling meal option.

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References & Sources For Jamaican Box Food

  1. Jamaican box food is a Styrofoam clamshell of togetherness, Jamaican box food is a Styrofoam clamshell of togetherness, https://thetakeout.com/what-is-jamaican-box-food-or-box-lunch-street-foo-1841755079#:~:text=%E2%80%9CBox%20food%E2%80%9D%20or%20%E2%80%9Cbox,nation%2C%20linked%20to%20Jamaica's%20vibe

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