Callaloo  is a popular Caribbean dish originating in West Africa served in different variants across the Caribbean. The main ingredient is a leaf vegetable, traditionally either amaranth, taro or Xanthosoma. known by many names, including coco & tannia. Because the leaf vegetable used in some regions may be locally called “callaloo” or “callaloo bush” “Dasheen Leaves”, some confusion can arise among the vegetables and with the dish itself.

In Haiti, for example, the creole word “kalalou” refers to okra, and not to a leafy green. Outside of the Caribbean, water spinach is occasionally used.

Trinidadians, Grenadians and Dominicans primarily use taro/dasheen bush for callaloo, although Dominicans also use water spinach. Jamaicans, Belizeans and Guyanese on the other hand use the name callaloo to refer to amaranth, and use it in a plethora of dishes and also a drink ‘callaloo juice’. The ‘callaloo’ made in Jamaica is different from the ‘callaloo’ made in Trinidad and Tobago Grenada and rest of the Caribbean in terms of main ingredient (the leaf used) and other ingredients included.