Cuisine

The Creole table of Saint Lucia

African, French, British and East Indian flavours simmered into one Creole kitchen. One pot bouyon, fish straight off the boat, cocoa grown in the shadow of the Pitons, and rum poured generously. This is how Saint Lucia eats.

The national dish

Green Fig and Saltfish

Despite the name there is not a fig in it. "Fig" is the local word for green banana, boiled and served with salted cod sautéed in onion, garlic, peppers and thyme. Born when bananas grew everywhere and salt cod kept without ice, it became the taste of home, eaten at weekends and at the heart of every Creole Day plate.

On the plate

What to eat

From the communal bouyon pot to conch, fritters and roasted breadfruit. Filter by kind, then tap a dish to learn more.

Hard food

Provisions and greens

The starchy roots, tubers and greens, the "provisions" or hard food, that anchor every Creole plate, with the Kwéyòl names you'll hear at the market.

A sweet tooth

Cakes and candy

School gate sweets, banana leaf puddings, sticky tamarind balls, sugar dusted guava cheese and frozen treats for the heat. Filter by kind, then tap a treat to learn more.

Friday night, fired up

The fish fiestas

On weekend nights whole villages turn into open air kitchens, the grills smoking and the music loud. The island's most loved street food is the catch of the day.

Friday · west coast

Anse La Raye Fish Fry

A fishing village whose streets fill with grilled snapper, tuna, lobster, crab and conch, with bakes and accra. Mellow, local and best reached early before the seafood sells out.

Saturday · east coast

Dennery Seafood Fiesta

The waterfront beside the rum shops becomes a community lime, with fresh fish, conch and spiny lobster in a zesty Creole sauce and a DJ into the night.

Friday · the north

Gros Islet Jump-Up

The island's most famous street party, running for over fifty years: barbecue chicken, fresh fish and Piton beer to a giant sound system of soca, reggae and zouk.

From tree to bar

Cocoa and chocolate

The volcanic hills around Soufrière grow some of the Caribbean's finest cocoa, a crop that took over the estates when sugar collapsed. Today the old plantations lead a tree to bar revival.

At Rabot Estate, one of the island's oldest cocoa plantations, you can walk the groves, roast and grind the beans, and press your own bar with the Pitons in view. And every island morning can begin with cocoa tea, a local cocoa stick grated into hot milk with cinnamon and nutmeg.

In the glass

Beverages

The island brews its own lager and distils prize winning rum, alongside Christmas sorrel and egg nog, bittersweet bark drinks, bush teas from the yard, and juices pressed from tropical fruit.

Where to eat it

From market to feast

Castries Central Market

The capital's bustling covered market, open since the 1890s: produce and spices, cocoa sticks and pepper sauce, and cooked food stalls serving green fig and saltfish and bouyon. Busiest on Saturday mornings.

Roadside cook-shops

Informal Creole kitchens serving inexpensive plates of stewed fish, bakes, accra, roti and barbecue. The heart of everyday eating, and of liming.

Jounen Kwéyòl

On Creole Day each October the island eats together: green fig and saltfish, bouyon, roasted breadfruit, souse and bakes, washed down with cocoa tea. See it on the events calendar.

Food and Rum Festival

An annual celebration of the island's chefs, cuisine and rum, with tastings, dinners and music. Check current dates before you plan.