What national dish of Barbados pairs cornmeal-and-okra cou-cou with seasoned flying fish?

Barbados’s national dish is cou-cou and flying fish, pairing a cornmeal-and-okra staple with seasoned fish.

Cou-cou is made by cooking okra with water before gradually stirring in cornmeal. The result is a smooth, firm side dish somewhat comparable to polenta. Flying fish is commonly steamed, fried, or prepared in a seasoned gravy, and it has long been important to Barbadian food culture because the fish is abundant in local waters.

The dish is associated especially with Sunday meals and national identity. A common mix-up is confusing cou-cou with Caribbean callaloo: both can involve okra, but cou-cou is thickened with cornmeal. Barbados is also called the “Land of the Flying Fish,” reflecting the ingredient’s cultural importance rather than suggesting that the fish is unique to Barbados.