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The Belizean culinary landscape has experienced a dramatic shift in recent years, with an abundance of "fresh" and "local" dishes (i.e., salads) appearing on restaurant menus. While many tourists appreciate the option of ordering salad, there is a truly local green that might be equally or better suited to the tourist market given what we know about tourists' interests in both authenticity and healthful eating. This paper explores both host and guest attitudes towards chaya, a leafy green that is high in protein and may have anti-diabetic properties. We argue that tourists enjoy eating chaya but restauranteurs are not taking advantage of its potential as a sustainable, low-cost dish that could also help preserve traditional foodways. Though restauranteurs are apt to cite supply chain issues as one of the reasons they are reluctant to make chaya a menu mainstay, we also believe that when a food occupies an ambiguous place in the local foodscape--as chaya does--local hosts may be unable to leverage it to is full potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourist demand for food stuffs like delicate lettuce varieties that are ill‐suited to the local environment are setting off a chain of reactions within the Cayo District of Belize. To meet demand, farmers are learning to grow these crops organically, synthesizing knowledge from a variety of sources in order to succeed in this new market. This paper takes readers through the experiences of villagers who work in several key sites of a luxury eco‐resort—the restaurant, kitchen, store room, and organic farm—before turning to the implications for the village at large. Though catering to tourists' tastes is often treated as a form of neocolonialism, this case study examines the agency and creativity expressed by local community members as they adapt to this changing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]