Sint Maarten: Food and the National Dish

A small island with one distinctive local specialty

Sint Maarten, the Dutch side of an island split between the Netherlands and France, shares much of its everyday food with the wider Dutch Caribbean, but claims one genuinely distinctive local product that sets it apart: guavaberry, a wild fruit found on the island and turned into a liqueur unique to Sint Maarten.

The signature product: guavaberry liqueur

Guavaberry liqueur, made by steeping the small, tart guavaberry fruit (unrelated to guava despite the name) in rum with sugar and spices, is Sint Maarten's most distinctive local food product. Traditionally made at home and passed down through families, guavaberry liqueur is especially associated with Christmas and New Year celebrations on the island, when it is served as a genuine seasonal tradition rather than sold only as a tourist souvenir.

Rum, seafood and a genuinely shared Caribbean pantry

Fresh seafood, rice and beans, and Caribbean staples like plantain and saltfish anchor much of everyday cooking on the Dutch side of the island, closely shared with the wider Dutch Caribbean and the neighbouring French side. Guavaberry, growing wild on parts of the island, is the one ingredient genuinely specific to Sint Maarten itself.

History behind the berry

Guavaberry trees grow wild in the hills of Sint Maarten, and the tradition of turning the fruit into a home-brewed liqueur predates the island's modern tourism industry by generations, rooted in family recipes passed down rather than a commercial invention. The Guavaberry Emporium in Philipsburg, a shop dedicated to the drink, has helped turn a once purely home-based tradition into a recognised island specialty sold more widely today.

Dishes to know

Four more to recognise on Sint Maarten:

• Johnnycake — a fried or baked cornmeal bread, a common Caribbean

side dish shared across the wider Dutch and English Caribbean.

• Saltfish — salted, preserved cod, a colonial-era staple still eaten

today.

• Goat water — a slow-cooked goat stew, shared with neighbouring

Leeward Islands.

• Rice and peas — a staple side dish served alongside most meals.

Drinks

Guavaberry liqueur, especially around Christmas and New Year, is Sint Maarten's most distinctive drink. Rum more broadly, and fresh tropical fruit juices, are also widely enjoyed across the island.

Eating as a traveller

Vegetarians will find rice, bean and vegetable-based dishes manageable, though seafood and saltfish are common across much of the island's cooking. Tap water is generally safe to drink on Sint Maarten. Visiting the Guavaberry Emporium in Philipsburg is a genuine way to taste the island's one truly distinctive food product.

What to take from the table

Guavaberry liqueur, made from a wild fruit found on this one small island, is the closest thing Sint Maarten has to a food identity fully its own, set apart from the wider shared Caribbean and Dutch cooking found on its plates.