Grenada & Carriacou / Special Interests / Food and Cooking

Local Grenadian food has legacies from all the island’s various influences including British, French and, of course, African, but it is also solidly West Indian. Meals can be unexpectedly heavy for the climate, with a sauce or even a stew accompanied by rice and exotic, sometimes starchy, tropical vegetables. However, island cooks make good use of local ingredients such as the local fish, and their food is always tasty, as the island’s famous spices are put to good use too.

The Grenadian national dish (a West Indian classic anyway) is oil down, or “ile dung” as it is usually pronounced, which consists of breadfruit, dasheen leaves, root vegetables and some salt pork (optional) all steamed in coconut milk and spices. It bubbles away, simmering down, for several hours.

Stews can usually be found on local menus – stewed fish, stewed pork and beef – and soups are a favourite too, particularly on a Saturday, when households cook up fish broth, lambi waters and the delightfully named cowheel soup. Other weekend favourites are black pudding and saltfish souse, which are eaten with Johnny bakes. Lambi, the French Creole name for conch, is often served up curried. A more delicate seafood is fried jacks, quite like whiting, which are delicious.

With Grenada's extremely fertile soil, the island's market stalls are piled high with vegetables or ground provisions, including sweet and “Irish” potato, tannia, eddoe, yam, and many different varieties of plantain and fig (relatives of the banana). If you are cooking for yourself it is fun to head out into the market to buy all these things. Other side dishes include christophene, a pear-shaped vegetable that grows on a vine, and coocoo, which is made from corn. If you are feeling adventurous you might like to try farine (cassava flour), which is often eaten with pork souse or saltfish cakes.

Grenada uses its range of fruits to make some exotic ice-creams, including nutmeg, soursop and even avocado. Finally, if you hear of a mysterious drink called Bois Bande (pronounced as bawbandy), beware of the quantities you drink. Made from the bark of a tree, it is touted as a natural Viagra. If you are not careful with quantities you could end up with longer lasting effects than you may wish.

If you are looking for a cookery course using local produce and flavours, Maca Bana Villas offers private cookery classes to guests. You can see a sample Signature Dish in their Readers Offer. True Blue Bay Resort also offers cooking lessons at its Dodgy Dock Restaurant every Thursday afternoon at 3pm. If you are staying in a private villa, you could ask your housekeeper to give you an informal lesson in Grenadian cookery and teach you some local dishes. They will gladly take you to the market to buy all the provisions too. See an article on learning to cook Grenadian food.

Grenada has some good restaurants, some of them actually the beach bars, and there are some particularly lovely settings in which to eat out, often on a waterfront deck or above the sand. Interestingly, while it is Barbados that has seen most action on the celebrity chef front, Gary Rhodes (currently one of the most prominent English chefs) chose to open his only overseas restaurant in Grenada, at the Calabash Hotel. See under Food & Drink.

If you would like to try local food on Grenada there are plenty of good options, including:

The Nutmeg, St George's - A Grenadian classic, set on the first floor looking out across the Carenage. Very good rum punches and non-alcoholic Bentleys. A variety of local dishes that are good value, such as the Chicken Maryland, potato salad and Creole Christophene.

Deyna’s Tasty Foods, St George's - Near the fish market, local fare, very popular at lunchtime.

Creole Shack, St George’s - On the Carenage, cafeteria-style dining with a big screen and karaoke

Little Dipper - Perched on a simple wooden deck on the hillside on the south coast, with views of Hog and Calivigny Islands. Limited menu of lobster, lambie and fish. Advanced booking recommended.

Cabier Ocean Lodge, Crochu - Bruno and Iris Delvallee offer Creole cooking classes using home-grown produce and freshly caught fish.

Kelly’s Hot Spot, Gouyave - Fresh fish and chips served in polystyrene dishes. Very popular with locals, washed down with a Carib in the bar next door, or in front of “Texas Ranger.” Open seven days a week

Fish Friday Festival, Gouyave - Friday night street party fun, music and dance – sample local cuisine and culture, lots of fish and lobster fresh from the sea (kebabs, pizzas too) washed down with ice cold Carib. US$25 per person for return bus journey and a guide (minimum 4 people needed for the bus to operate). Book in advance with Caribbean Horizons.

Here is a DCTV video giving a little taster of the Fish Friday Festival in full swing.

If you are travelling around the island then there are a couple of classic stops in the north of the island where you can get a good lunch (they are on the tour bus route). You can try Morne Fendue, which is set in an old stone house, call in advance.