What to Eat in Aruba: Typical Dishes

The wonderful nature of Aruba not only produces dreamlike landscapes and atmospheres but also excellent ingredients for tasty typical dishes: in Aruba, what to eat is certainly not a problem that will concern even the most discerning palates.
The cuisine of Aruba is indeed a mix of flavors derived from different traditions but now beautifully blended, given the influences coming from other Caribbean islands, the Netherlands, and South America.
The typical dishes of Aruba are therefore naturally based on fish, but there are also meat-based inspirations, all enriched by vegetables grown locally.
The fish most present in the local cuisine are wahoo, snapper, dolphinfish, and barracuda.
The typical dish of Aruba with Creole tradition is called Pisca hasa crioyo and is prepared with slices of bread, a sauce made of onion, tomato, peas, and garlic. Another specialty that, along with Pisca hasa crioyo, is found on all menus is Keri-keri, cooked like a classic fillet boiled in salted water, then cut into pieces and sautéed in a pan with butter, tomato, onion, celery, basil, peas, and spices.
If you prefer meat, you can enjoy Stoba, a meat stew: carni stoba is made with beef, while cabrito stoba is made with goat meat. In both cases, the whole is cooked with potatoes, onion, garlic, and chili in a tomato-based sauce.
There are two most common side dishes when eating in Aruba: Pan Bati (a fried bread) and Funchi, a kind of polenta.
There are also many pumpkin-based specialties: Pampuna llena is pumpkin stuffed with grated pumpkin, boiled eggs, onions, and tomato. Pampuna Stoba is pumpkin cooked with meat, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. Then you can try Lsopi di pampuna (pumpkin soup) with beef, vegetables in broth, and pieces of pumpkin and potatoes that are previously blended and mixed with cream and butter.
As for the typical sweets of Aruba, bolo is the classic cake, offered in several variants (with cashews, chocolate, egg, and plums), or there is Ponche Crema, served especially at Christmas or for the most important holidays: it is a sweet drink with egg yolks, cream, rum, and spices.
Finally, there is an ingredient that lends itself to various uses in the kitchen: papaya.
You can eat it instead of fruit or dessert, but it is recommended to try the batido, a papaya smoothie with vanilla, which can be enriched as desired with other fruits like pineapple or orange.