Yesterday we ate our way around the island of St. Vincent, today we were driven from Castries to the town of Rodney Bay where our culinary walk took place.
Looking back, it was probably much better that we had to contend with Saturday traffic between the two towns; we were one of three ships in port - P&O Brittania, one of the Aida ships from Germany, and us. Doing anything within Castries would probably have been quite crowded.
The holiday season is here just as it is in the colder climates, although it looks a bit out of place. Here's a photo as we passed one of the larger department stores on our way to Rodney Bay:
Our small group was picked up at the local shopping mall by our guide, Silma. She led us first to a little place just off the main street called Lucian Cuisine. There we were served a 'breakfast' (oh, no, not again!) of salt fish - cod - cooked with onion, garlic and peppers and sandwiched between two small griddle buns. Along with it we had cocoa tea. On the island, cocoa beans are turned into dense sticks of cocoa. Pieces of it are boiled in water until they disintegrate, along with spices like bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon. It comes out really thick but unsweetened, tasting very much like Indian Chai tea.
From there we headed toward a food stand, and on the way Silma gave us a taste of a local treat, sort of a cross between a cookie and a granola bar, called Lababad. It tasted of oats with a zing of ginger, cinnamon and coconut.
At the food stand, a couple of lovely ladies put together a dish for us called Doubles. They have this name because they use two pieces of the tortilla-style base for each one. This is a vegetarian dish made with stewed chickpeas in curry sauce, some hot sauce made from a local version of coriander, shredded cucumber and what looked like cheese, or maybe another veggie. They were a little messy to eat, but quite delicious!
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| Putting it togther |
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| The finished product. You have to fold one end of the foil up so the sauce doesn't run out and get all over you. This is NOT the neatest thing to eat. If it doesn't get on your clothes, it will be all over your chin! |
We weren't finished yet! After this we stopped at the Royal Palm Grill and Bar for a local Piton beer for those who wanted one, juice for the rest of us, and something called Provisions. This small bowl came with a small piece of chicken atop some taro root and cooked banana. It was pretty good, too, and not too much. It was actually also lucky that we were there, as we had a brief rain shower while we sat under the corrugated roof.
We still had two more stops to go after this, but they weren't too far apart and close to our pickup point.
Next we visited a lovely private home where we had shared a large plate of tropical fruits. The home belongs to Jasmine, the owner of the food tour company. After we had our fruit course, Jasmine brought us inside the house for a brief look. It is quite beautiful....and available as an AirB'n'B if anyone is interested. It is called Villa Pineapple.
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| Our fruit plate included guava, canistel (also known as egg fruit because of the consistency of the golden flesh), golden apple, passionfruit and tangerine. |
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| The house is just beautiful, both outside... |
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| ...and inside! |
After leaving Jasmine, we walked only a short distance around the block to our final stop, the Cakes and More Bakery where we tasted coconut turnovers. The small piece each of us got was quite delicious too.
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