From pirates to tax haven - the Caymans
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
"There are twice as many companies as people."
Jacques Peretti/The Guardian
The Caymans are mere specs in the ocean - the tips of an undersea mountain range between Honduras and Cuba - the large piece of land to the north on this map. The smaller chunk of land at the bottom of the map is Jamaica, to which it once belonged as part of the great British Empire. In fact it still is part of the British Empire - if you can call it that these days. It's now an independent British Overseas Territory - in fact the one with the largest population - a massive 77,000-80,000. It's also the Caribbean's highest earning population - and one of the highest earning in the world. How come? We shall see.
I'm intrigued by the various histories of islands. Virtually all of them were discovered long, long, ago, and settled by various peoples. Why would you settle on an island - particularly one - or in this case, one of the three islands that make up the Cayman Islands? You can barely see them in that Google Maps satellite view above - so here is a closer look. And as you can see, the two smaller islands are a long way from the main Grand Cayman Island - the one where everything happens.
The Caymans are wealthy because it's a tax haven. There is no tax on income earned or stored there. Most of the country's income comes from indirect taxes, duties, GST, license fees, etc. - which makes everything expensive there. Apparently some 20,000 companies are registered there and there are actually around 100,000 companies with offices there. All on Grand Cayman Island. Their second source of income is from tourism - there is excellent diving and also wonderful wildlife - now protected, and once - turtles for example - almost hunted to extinction. They still eat the turtles, but they are farmed nowadays.
The island has no water. There are no rivers or lakes, just one very brackish kind of lake near a town called Hell, and for some reason it seems, not just because of the lake, but also because it's where the poor live. And there are many poor on the island. It's expensive to live there. Today water is provided by desalination of the seawater - apparently filtered underground somehow.
So how - and indeed why - did people settle there? Well it was apparently sighted - they don't say he landed there - by Columbus in 1503. Three uninhabited islands with lots of turtles and so he called them Las Tortugas - which means Turtle Islands. Later the name Cayman was given from caiman - which means crocodile - from the language of nearby indigenous peoples. Once people knew it was there it became a haven for pirates, shipwrecked sailors and deserters from Oliver Cromwell's army in Jamaica. I'm not sure I knew that Oliver Cromwell had an army in Jamaica. But all of this disreputable lot were not permanent residents - one wonders how they got water - from rain I guess. And there is plenty of it at various times of year. Hurricanes/cyclones are a regular event. Hurricane Ivan of 2004 caused immense damage to the islands - they say 95% of buildings were destroyed or damaged and the island was underwater for three days.
It was not until 1661 that the islands gained their first permanent resident - Isaac Bodden who had been born on the island. In 1670 the British took control of the islands through the Treaty of Madrid, but it was still not until the 1730s that there was really a permanent British population - who, of course, imported slaves - so that today the majority of the population is either of British or African descent, although there are a large number of temporary migrants working there. From 1863-1962 it became part of Jamaica - a Crown Colony, but when Jamaica became independent the Cayman Islands chose to stay as a British Overseas Territory. They have their own Parliament - 19 members and a Governor and are more or less independent.
I still find it amazing that anyone should discover these tiny dots of land in a vast ocean. Back in the 16th century there were hardly hundreds of ships passing by. You could perhaps believe that the natives of Central America, Cuba or Jamaica, might have found them when fishing - and maybe they did, but didn't reckon them worth staying at. Interesting however.
But to food. As well as no water the islands are also not very suited to growing many crops, although apparently, on a small scale, there are now attempts at discovering what they can grow on its nutrient deficient and alkaline soil. For 90% of the Cayman Islands food is imported - and taxed. There are of course, coconut palms and native vegetation includes yams, cassava, breadfruit, plantains and callalloo. - a kind of leafy vegetable. And of course there is plentiful food from the sea.
The cuisine is heavily influenced by neighbouring Jamaica and also Britain. It is sometimes said that the Caymans are more British than Britain. All the usual Caribbean dishes exist, but because of its international business workers, I'm guessing that the general fare is international.
There do seem to be a few almost native dishes however - some just variations of those found elsewhere in the Caribbean.
Rundown fish
This seems to be the most unique of these dishes. It's a fish stew - with the fish and the starchy ingredients - yam, cassava, breadfruit, depending on who is cooking it, but always cooked in coconut milk, with the inclusion of cornmeal dumplings, and whatever vegetables take the cook's fancy.
Turtle stew
As I said, the islands were swarming with turtles when Columbus first visited, but over time the population was decimated. They are now protected in the wild, and, of course, are a major tourist attraction, and so to preserve the tradition of turtle stew, the turtles are now farmed. Often served with beans and rice - an all-round Caribbean favourite.
Conch fritters
Barely worth mentioning as, so far in my voyaging around the Caribbean - in my head anyway - conch fritters seems to be a universal favourite with everyone, and in waste not want not fashion the highly decorative shells are sold to the tourists. The conch are also served in a stew with tomatoes, herbs and Cayman hot peppers.
Braised oxtail
A dish from its neighbour Jamaica which Kieran Meeke for Celebrity Cruises tells us
"It’s served with rice ‘n’ peas, whose blandness complements the flavors of allspice and scotch bonnet pepper. The stew is also rich with butter beans, carrots, and dumplings with a good splash of ketchup,"
Cayman style beef
Slow cooked beef with onions, beef and chile peppers - Kieran Meeke tells us:
"the dish has roots in earlier times when poorer families killed their cow at year-end. This was a major event, with everyone taking part in the day-long cooking process."
Jerk chicken
Well of course there is jerk chicken. And I may even have devoted a whole post to this world favourite dish. It comes from Jamaica, and will doubtless be featured when I come to Jamaica - next on my list, for I have left Central America for now to venture out a little into this local part of the Caribbean.
Coconut shrimp
Prawns coated with flour and then dipped in an egg wash, before being coated with coconut and breadcrumbs and then deep-fried. According to Google's AI they are often served with a sweet chilli, marmalade or a spicy mango dipping sauce. I have to say these look to be pretty enormous prawns.
Tortuga Rum Cake
This is a really local speciality it seems, because Kieran Meeke tells us:
"Former airline pilot Robert Hamaty started making Tortuga Rum on Cayman in 1984. His wife Carlene used an old family recipe for their trademark Tortuga Rum Cake soon after."
INow there is a company and a small factory manufacturing them. It's a yellow cake glazed with rum and with walnuts - and a hole in the middle.
Will I make any of these things. Probably not - well maybe the jerk chicken but that's not really Cayman is it?
So there you go - a tiny dot on the map with a colourful history and a reputation as a centre for money laundering, a financial shelter and a flag of convenience. They're apparently trying to improve their image. A beautiful place to visit though. The wildlife is protected, the water is crystal clear, the beaches are among the world's most beautiful and no doubt the hotels are luxury plus.
YEARS GONE BY
March 30
2025 - Different ways of cooking
2023 - Cooking for two
2022 - Nothing
2021 - Missing
2020 - Missing
2019 - Nothing
2018 - Looking for a steak recipe
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