IMAGES: ALAMY; SHANE LEACOCK


EAT BARBADOS Hearty portions of pork and fish washed down with beer or rum are the


traditional staples of Barbados — but things are changing, particularly in the less-visited northern hills and along the east coast


WORDS: LU CY GI L LMORE


“You’re going to eat like a Bajan today. We don’t stop until our waistlines stretch,” says Paulette de Gannes to the group of us standing in Bridgetown’s Independence Square. With Paulette, from Lickrish Food Tours, as our guide we’re about to embark on a walk, stopping at restaurants, markets, food trucks and more on a three-hour culinary marathon. “Bajans love their food,” says Paulette laughing. “Eating the way we do in this heat, you start to feel heavy and slow. You’re going to want to sleep.” Sleep isn’t an option, however, as I’m here


during the annual Barbados Food and Rum Festival and, as well as knowing how to eat, Bajans know how to throw a party. The festival is a mash-up of rum-fuelled street parties, sunrise beach events, rum distillery tours and tastings, plus cocktail demonstrations. There are cooking demos too, with local chefs exercising very un-Bajan portion control to dish up mercifully bite-size, refined versions of traditional dishes. It’s a celebration of the island’s increasingly


innovative modern food and drink scene, but I’m squeezing in a grassroots food tour to get an insight into Barbados’s culinary heritage. Roughly triangular in shape, the 166sq mile


island isn’t technically Caribbean. Surrounded by the North Atlantic, it’s 99 miles east of the Caribbean Sea. As such, it was the first landfall for some of the ships from the African continent and became a British colony during the 17th century, only gaining full independence in 1966.


50 NATIONALGEOGRAPHIC.COM/TRAVEL


It was the Dutch and not the British who introduced sugarcane in 1639 (the ‘white gold’ used to make rum), I learn as we zigzag through Bridgetown’s ramshackle streets. It’s a low-key little capital, with pastel-painted warehouses lining the waterfront. It was the Portuguese who bequeathed a love of salt cod and named the island ‘Os Barbados’ (‘bearded men’) after its shaggy fig trees. Other interesting facts I pick up: the grapefruit originated here and many Bajans like to dip their fruit in the sea for a salty kick — as homegrown superstar Rihanna recently demonstrated. Our first stop, Tim’s Restaurant, is a


casual joint above a pawnshop. Perching on stools on the balcony, we devour a mound of well-seasoned pork, marinated overnight in turmeric, paprika and scotch bonnet peppers, with pickled cucumber and cassava. “You’re not eating like a Bajan unless you’re eating pork — with starchy root vegetables,” Paulette says. “Chicken is the thing we eat most, pork is the thing we like most — fish is just there.” Which isn’t the whole story, of course. We


join a queue at the popular Hot Legendary Fish Cakes food truck, a scruffy orange trailer dishing up battered balls of salt cod with a Bajan twist. “Fish cakes are number-one on the island, hands down. We eat fish cakes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. We eat them with a pepper sauce so hot it can cause your eyes to bleed,” says Paulette. They deliver on punchy spice and my eyes soon water from the heat.


Clockwise from top left: A vendor preparing young, green coconuts; Rockley Beach, in the south; fruit and veg stall at a local Bajan market; flying fish with macaroni pie and salad


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204