Guam Cuisine

Guam’s cuisine reflects the influence of the original Chamorro settlers who still comprise about half of its population. Techniques and ingredients imported by Spanish, Portuguese, and American colonists can also be seen in the dishes. Fish, chicken, corn, breadfruit, taro, and rice are all common foods, and dishes are typically seasoned with onion, garlic, achiote, chilies, coconut, and citrus juice.

Chicken or shrimp kelaguen (flavored with lemon juice, onions, hot peppers, scallions, and fresh coconut) is perhaps the most typical of Guam’s cuisine, and it is often served with rice colored with annatto and flavored with onion and garlic (also known as "red rice"). At one time, the quintessential dish would have been fruit bat soup, but this is not eaten anymore. Other meat dishes include chicken estufao (pieces of chicken stewed with tomatoes and onions) and morcizas (chicken neck stuffed with chicken meat, pepper, onions, and garlic, tied at both ends and stewed in broth).

Chicken, pork, beef, and fish are also often served with finadene (soy, lemon juice, and chili) sauce. Seafood is common and is served barbecued, in fritters, or in dishes like kadon octopus (stewed in coconut milk, onions, and sweet peppers) and eskabeche (fish marinated in vinegar and soy sauce).

Side dishes include locally grown cucumbers, green beans, squash, peppers, and eggplants. Appetizers include ahu (grated coconut boiled in sugar water) and lumpia (Philippine-style vegetable egg rolls). Desserts often incorporate the wealth of local fruit like mangoes, coconuts, pineapples, bananas, papayas, limes, and melons. Kalami, a cornmeal and coconut pudding, is a good example of this. The most typical of Guamanian beverages is sweet tuba, a chilled drink made from the first sap of the young coconut tree.

-World Trade Press

Breadfruit

Fresh Coconuts

Ripened Mango