Millions of English-speaking Caribbean immigrants and their families reside in the United States. The largest of this group being individuals from the island of Jamaica. According to the 2020 census 1 million Jamaicans have migrated to these shores. Therefore, it is likely that one of your patients could tell you that they had callaloo and banana for breakfast. And you should know how to interpret and utilize that information to appropriately analyze their intake and make any necessary nutrition recommendations.
So, is this a good breakfast and what is callaloo anyway?
Well, if your patient or client is Jamaican, then callaloo is a dark green leafy vegetable like spinach. We would be talking about another dish if your patient is from the Eastern Caribbean or Trinidad and Tobago. This green leafy vegetable is often sautéed with salted fish, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. It may be eaten as a side dish or as an entrée, served with cooked green bananas, a popular accompaniment for many Caribbean dishes.
Callaloo is low in calories, high in dietary fiber, iron, potassium, calcium, Vitamins A, C, B 6 , K and folate. The salted fish is typically cod, a good source of protein. But this dried salted fish is high in sodium if not properly soaked in water and boiled before it is combined and sauteed with the callaloo. Green bananas provide mostly carbohydrates as well as potassium, vitamin B 6 , and some vitamin C. However, much of the starch in green bananas is resistant starch, which gets replaced with simple sugars as the banana ripens. Resistant starch functions similarly to soluble, fermentable fiber, so has many health benefits.
The answer to our question then is yes, this is a healthy breakfast. It’s different, not ham and eggs, pancakes or waffles, but a meal that is typical for this population. The nutrition professional can and should enthusiastically encourage this intake but caution the patient to wash and soak the dried salted fish to minimize sodium. If possible, though challenging, encourage the purchase of fresh callaloo rather than canned, again to reduce sodium. Canned callaloo is available in some supermarkets. Fresh callaloo is sometimes available at West Indian specialty stores.
For more on green bananas, Caribbean food, culture and nutrition: https://culturecompetenceandcare.com/continuing-professional-education-cpe/