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Garifuna Kitchen · Coconut Seafood Stew

Tapado

Tapado — street food from Izabal, Guatemala
Photo: Keryy13 / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tapado is traditionally layered into a single covered pot in a strict order — fish first, then shellfish, then plantain and yuca — which is where the dish gets its name, "covered."

A rich coconut-milk seafood soup layered with fish, shrimp, crab, plantain, and yuca, simmered slowly. In Livingston it's ladled from big pots right outside Garifuna family kitchens.

Why it's made this way: Livingston, Izabal's Caribbean port town, is the historic heart of Guatemala's Garifuna community, whose coconut-based Caribbean cooking is entirely distinct from the rest of the country.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries. Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below. Photo credits.