Best Beach Eats from Around the World

On the beach this summer you can count on plenty of sun and sand, but how about food?

With all the fun to be had this season, you'll be sure to work up an appetite. Whether they're prepared in a roadside food truck or a restaurant kitchen, the best beach eats from around the world are heavenly enough to compete with the ocean view.

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The Daily Meal's list of the world's best beach eats includes classic seafood dishes, and also less-familiar beachside specialties, like crab bee hoon, frankies, and cod loin al pil pil. Eat barbecued jerk chicken with your fingers from a beach vendor in Boston Bay, Jamaica, cool down with a refreshing cup of Italian granita off the coast of Sicily, or scoop authentic, freshly made guacamole with crispy, fried plantain chips from the beaches of Costa Rica. No matter what you crave, you can taste the local fare without ever leaving the beach.

Click here to see Delicious Destinations: U.S. Cities with Food Names

Bring your bathing suits and your appetite because if there's one thing The Daily Meal loves about the beach more than sand and water, it's food.

Cuban Food (Miami Beach, Fla.)
You can't visit Miami without tasting the Latin flair. With the URGE app, beach-goers can eat whatever they are craving, whether it's a Cuban sandwich or a salad, and have it delivered right to them on the beach.

Hamburgers and Hot Dogs (Water Taxi Beach, Queens, N.Y.)
Water Taxi Beach is an artificial, temporary beach on a wharf on Governor's Island in New York. It was operated by the New York Water Taxi Company and recently reopened. To grab the best beach eats on this man-made beach, Harry's is the place to go. Harry's serves delicious summer barbecue foods like hamburgers and hot dogs. Enjoy some of these traditional American beach foods, beer, and tropical drinks, all with a great view of Midtown!

Granita (Salina, Sicily, Italy)
Salina is a lush island off Sicily's coast, where the island's volcanic origins left beautiful black sand. To cool off on this island, Salina is known for its granita, a refreshing icy treat. This beach treat is unparalleled at Da Alfredo's, a famous graniteria on the beach of Lingua. Alfredo's is renowned for its granita made from coffee, fresh fruit, or nuts like pistachios and almonds. This icy treat comes in many flavors, like melon, strawberry, orange, lemon, peach, chocolate, pistachio, almond, fig, hazelnut, and coffee. Da Alfredo's is also known for another Italian favorite, pane cunzato, an open-faced sandwich filled with tuna, ricotta, eggplant, tomatoes, capers, and olives.

Coconut Water and Coconut Donuts (Ko Phi Phi, Thailand)

Ko Phi Phi Don is the largest of the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand that has a unique treasure along its beach, coconuts. The island is covered with coconut plantations and on Loh Dalum Bay, worshippers can kick back, enjoy the pristine beach, and drink straight out of coconuts.

Sip coconut water with coconut donuts made by street vendors from a thin layer of batter, coconut, and coconut cream. The doughnuts are fried on each side to get a crispy outside, but gooey inside.

Shrimp Skewers (Virginia Beach, Va.)
A walk along the boardwalk is a must-do when visiting Virginia Beach. Visitors and locals alike enjoy the three-mile walkway that stretches along the oceanfront. Along the way there are plenty of upscale shops, street vendors, museums, amusement parks, statues, a fishing pier, and live outdoor entertainment stages, but what's best of all are the restaurants and the food. Catch 31 Fish House and Bar has some of the freshest food around, not to mention a beautiful view of the ocean. The shrimp is a must-have, whether it's the shrimp cocktail, peel and eat shrimp, or the golden fried jumbo shrimp.

French Fries (Rehoboth Beach, Del.)
When it comes to beach boardwalks, Rehoboth Beach, Del., has it all. Reader's Digest named the boardwalk the "Best of America." Rehoboth's boardwalk offers live entertainment, arcades, sit-down restaurants, and food vendors. Most noteworthy of Rehoboth's boardwalk are the french fries. Thrasher's French Fries on Rehoboth's boardwalk serves its famous french fries by the tub. Thrasher's opens as early as 11 a.m., with a line of beach-goers waiting to eat their thick, hand-cut steak fries. Don't bother asking for ketchup; Thrasher's French Fries thinks that's french fries sacrilege. All you get is extra salt and malt vinegar.

Jerk Chicken (Portland, Jamaica)

Jamaica is famous for its gorgeous beaches, reggae music, and Blue Mountain coffee, but what is most outstanding about the country is its Jamaican jerk. Jerk is both a marinade and a preparation technique. In its most authentic form, fresh poultry or pork meat is massaged with a concentrated spice rub infused hours before cooking with allspice, cinnamon, peppers, onion, thyme, and garlic. The marinated meat is placed on pimento wood and slowly roasted over hot coals.

Head to Boston Bay for jerk chicken and pork. Called the "Jerk Capital of Jamaica," Boston Bay is even considered the birthplace of the spicy jerk seasoning and hosts the Portland Jerk Festival, featuring live music and hundreds of jerk food stalls.

Year round, the beach at Boston Bay and the surrounding roads are lined with corrugated metal jerk stalls often called "Jerk Centers," where each vendor has his own special jerk recipe. When you order, the cook slices a piece of meat and then cuts it into bite-size bits with a machete before covering it in more jerk sauce, and wrapping it in paper for you to take to the beach.

Empanadas (Puerto Rico)
Empanadas can be found virtually anywhere in Puerto Rico, but one humble abode deserves bragging rights, Sol Food on Isla de Vieques. Sol Food is a roadside food truck that cooks up the best empanadas around. You'll pass this food truck on your way to the Red, Blue, Garcia, or Secret beaches, so it's the perfect food to bring along for a beach picnic. Their empanadas are so good that they sell out by the end of the day, so get yourself there early.

Swordfish (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.)
The Outermost Inn is an inn and restaurant located on the Gay Head Cliffs in Aquinnah. This quiet residential location offers guests direct access to the Vineyard's best beaches and vistas. The name of the inn speaks to its location on the western end of the island. The restaurant at the Outermost Inn serves food made from fresh herbs and vegetables from the garden that can be enjoyed on the porch overlooking the Vineyard Sound. The Outermost Inn offers a prix fixe menu with selections like local oyster, organic beef, and milk chocolate pâté but the swordfish is a favorite. From the property, diners have a view of the Aquinnah Cliffs and the lighthouse that was one of the first revolving lighthouses in the country. Reservations are often made months in advance.

Fried Plantains and Guacamole (Samara, Costa Rica)
Playa Samara in Costa Rica is not only a beautiful beach resort, with a wide range of hotels, restaurants, bars, and discos, but also a successful fishing and farming community. This beach is known for its culinary freshness. Guacamole is a staple in the Spanish-speaking country and the best of this dip can be found at Shake Joe's in Playa Samara. Shake Joe's has a bar, open seating, and beach views but it is known for its guacamole and fried plantains.


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- Colleen Laughlin, The Daily Meal

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