Belizean cuisine is the cooking of Belize, shaped by Mestizo, Creole, Maya, Garifuna, East Indian, Chinese, and Mennonite communities and built on local seafood -- snapper, grouper, conch, shrimp -- alongside plantains, cassava, rice, and beans. Its best-known dish, rice and beans, cooks rice in coconut milk with kidney or black beans and seasonings like thyme and allspice, usually served with stewed chicken, beef, or fish.
Hudut, a Garifuna dish of fish or shellfish simmered in coconut milk and served with mashed plantains, is another signature. Marie Sharp's, a habanero-based hot sauce, is the country's best-known condiment, and desserts include cassava cake and a rum-soaked black cake.