Last checked: November 2026
Guyanese food is the cooking of six peoples sharing one coast: Indigenous, African, Indian, Portuguese, Chinese and British. Start with pepperpot, cook-up rice, curry with roti and a plate of Chinese-style chow mein. Between them, those four dishes tell most of the country’s history.
At a glance
- Where to eat: Georgetown cook shops, markets and restaurants, plus village and roadside food along the coast
- What to order first: curry and roti, cook-up rice, pepperpot (especially at Christmas), chow mein or fried rice, bake and saltfish
- Cost: varies; ask for a current quote
- Heat: wiri wiri pepper sauce sits on most tables, so ask before you pour
- Best for: curious eaters, diaspora visitors reconnecting with home food, anyone with a day in Georgetown
Where does Guyanese food come from?
Each group that arrived on the coast brought its own kitchen, and the dishes slowly mixed.
- Indigenous peoples gave the country cassava and its by-products: cassava bread and cassareep, a thick black syrup boiled down from cassava juice. Cassareep is the base of pepperpot.
- Enslaved Africans brought one-pot cooking, ground provisions (starchy roots like cassava, eddoes and yams) and dishes such as metemgee and cook-up rice.
- Portuguese labourers from Madeira began arriving in 1835. Their best-known legacy is garlic pork, pickled in vinegar, garlic and thyme and eaten at Christmas.
- Indian indentured labourers arrived from 5 May 1838, now marked as Indian Arrival Day. They brought curry, roti, dhal and most of the country’s snacks.
- Chinese workers first arrived on 12 January 1853, aboard the Glentanner. Chow mein, fried rice and low mein are now everyday food for everyone.
- The British left black pudding, souse, pine tarts and a fondness for pound cake.
Which Guyanese dishes should you try first?
Pepperpot. Beef, pork or mutton slow-cooked in cassareep with cinnamon, clove and hot pepper until dark and sticky. It is one of Guyana’s national dishes and the classic Christmas morning breakfast, eaten with plait bread or homemade bread. Read more in our pepperpot guide.
Cook-up rice. Rice, peas (often black-eyed or pigeon peas) and meat or saltfish cooked down in coconut milk in one pot. It is the Saturday and Old Year’s Night dish in many homes.
Curry and roti. Chicken, duck, goat, shrimp, channa (chickpeas) or potato curry, eaten with oil roti (a soft, flaky flatbread) or dhal puri (roti filled with ground split peas). See our dhal puri guide.
Metemgee. Ground provisions, plantain and dumplings simmered in coconut milk, usually topped with fried fish or saltfish. Rich, filling and rarely on restaurant menus, so grab it when you see it.
Chow mein and fried rice. The Guyanese versions are loaded with meat and vegetables and often come with fried chicken. Our Guyanese Chinese food guide explains the menu.
Bake and saltfish. Fried dough split and filled with saltfish cooked with onion, tomato and pepper. A standard breakfast.
Garlic pork. Mostly a Christmas dish, fried and eaten with bread on Christmas morning alongside pepperpot.
What do Guyanese eat for breakfast?
Breakfast is serious. Expect bake and saltfish, sada roti (a plain, thicker roti) with eggs or fried vegetables, porridge, or last night’s fried rice. At Christmas, pepperpot and garlic pork with bread take over.
What is green seasoning?
Green seasoning is the herb paste behind most Guyanese meat and fish. Cooks blend fresh thyme (both fine-leaf and broad-leaf), shallots or scallions, garlic, celery, a local basil called married man pork, and wiri wiri or another hot pepper. Meat is rubbed with it and left to marinate before cooking.
Wiri wiri is a small, round, very hot local pepper. It turns up in pepper sauce, in achar (a spiced fruit pickle) and in mango sour, the tart, peppery sauce served with snacks.
What should you drink with Guyanese food?
- Mauby: a bittersweet drink made from tree bark, spices and sugar.
- Sorrel: a deep red drink made from sorrel (roselle hibiscus) sepals, mostly at Christmas.
- Ginger beer: home-brewed and strong, also a Christmas staple.
- Coconut water: sold from green coconuts by roadside vendors.
- Rum and beer: El Dorado rum is made by Demerara Distillers just south of Georgetown, and Banks is the local beer.
Where can you try Guyanese food?
Cook shops. These are small, often family-run lunch counters serving one or two hot dishes a day. They are where most people eat lunch. Stabroek Market has cook shops that serve Creole lunches, so go before the market winds down in the afternoon.
Markets and street vendors. Snacks like pholourie, egg balls and channa are sold around Stabroek and Bourda markets. See our Georgetown street food guide and our Guyana markets guide.
Restaurants with a track record:
- Shanta’s The Puri Shop (225 Camp Street, Georgetown) is a long-running lunch spot for puri, roti and vegetable curries. It closes on Sundays.
- Backyard Café, chef Delven Adams’s restaurant in his Georgetown backyard, cooks Guyanese food from what the market has that day. TIME named it one of the World’s Greatest Places for 2026. It is a small spot, so contact them before you go.
- New Thriving (Main and Hope Streets) is Georgetown’s best-known Chinese restaurant.
Guyana Restaurant Week. Each year, usually in June, the Tourism and Hospitality Association of Guyana runs Restaurant Week with set menus across Georgetown. The 19th edition, in June 2026, featured 26 restaurants.
When is the best time to eat in Guyana?
Food follows the calendar. Christmas brings pepperpot, garlic pork, black cake and sorrel. Diwali and Eid bring Indian sweets such as mithai, gulab jamun and sawine (sweet vermicelli). Emancipation Day on 1 August is a cook-up rice day. Read more in our Guyanese desserts and sweets guide.
FAQ
What is the national dish of Guyana? Pepperpot is the best-known national dish. Cook-up rice and chicken curry are often named alongside it.
Is Guyanese food spicy? The cooking is well seasoned rather than fiery. The heat usually comes from pepper sauce added at the table, so you control it.
Is Guyanese food the same as Trinidadian or Jamaican food? It overlaps with Trinidad on curry and roti, but pepperpot, metemgee and the Chinese-Guyanese dishes are distinct. Guyana also uses more cassava and cassareep.
Can vegetarians eat well in Guyana? Yes. Indian-Guyanese cooking has many meat-free curries, dhal and snacks. See our vegan and vegetarian guide.
Next step: Want to cook these at home? Read our Guyanese recipes guide, or see our Guyana food experiences guide for cooking classes and food tours.
