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Grenada, like all of the Caribbean, is a wonderful melting pot of cultures and people. First were the Amerindians, followed by the Caribs, French, Africans, English and Indians. With this wide mix of ethnic groups come some fantastic flavors and unique meals! Fresh seafood and BBQs are plentiful here, and there are a wide variety of curry dishes available as well.
Although there are many meals to sample while traveling through Grenada, make sure to try these five:
Oil Down
This is the national dish of the island! Some restaurants will have a special night where they offer oil down on the menu, but it's not common. If you join one of the Hashes that happen around the island, they typically have this meal available for after your walk/run.
However, the best oil downs are made in the family homes. If you know a local person, or are invited for a meal, definitely accept the offer! This is one dish you won't want to miss out on.
Preparing this one-pot meal is what takes the longest. Lambi (conch) must be pounded out to make sure it's tender, while the crabs must be cleaned and broken down. Chicken and pigtail must be cleaned and then chopped. Next, dumplings are made from scratch using flour and water. Fruits and vegetables such as breadfruit, callaloo and carrots must be peeled and cut, and coconut needs to be grated and strained with water to create a milky liquid. On top of all of that, a variety of spices need to be blended together.
Once everything is prepared, it's all placed into one pot, in layers. The pot is then placed on an open fire and left to boil and cook down for about 30 minutes. This dish is complex and delicious!
Doubles
Doubles are delicious - and I don't mean the cocktail! This is a typical breakfast food that originated in Trinidad, but is commonly eaten here in Grenada as well. A chickpea curry is wrapped in a fried bread called bara. This bread is made from flour, baking powder, salt and turmeric. If that wasn't enough to make you want to eat this dish, the delicious sauces such as sweet mango, shadon beni (cilantro) and spicy pepper surely will!
Roti
West Indies style roti is different from roti that you would find in India, as the bread here is much heavier. This is because there is no leavening agent added, giving the bread a more dense texture. Roti can be eaten plain, although it's normally dipped into stews and curries. It can also be eaten as a sort of packet meal.
If you head to one of the roti shops here in Grenada, you'll be given a square-shaped roti, which has been folded around a delicious protein (chicken, lambi or goat) and curried vegetables such as potatoes and carrots. This curry package makes for the perfect meal. It's filling and flavorful.
Waters
This is the ultimate "liming" dish (liming is the art of doing nothing, while hanging out with friends). Even though it's similar to an oil down in that it's prepared using one pot, the ingredients are different. Basically, this is the ultimate protein meal! Sorry vegetarians, you won't like this one. Whichever meat you have on hand is thrown into the pot. Pigtail is common, as is the local favorite, manicou. On top of that, a wide variety of seafood - snapper, octopus, lambi, and ray are added. Next into the pot goes some seasonings, dumplings, small bananas and carrots or potatoes if you have them. This may sound like a random combination of ingredients, but surprisingly, it's tasty!
BBQ Chicken
It would be hard to miss the sweet and spicy aromas of barbeque chicken wafting around this tiny Caribbean island. Every Friday (and sometimes other days throughout the week), grill masters set up their stands on the side of the road and tempt people in with their savory smoke signals. Pop into any one of the 100 or so barbeque stands that you're likely to pass and have a taste! Each and every cook has their own sauce and special flavor.
A few of our favorites include:
Jerk Chicken: Particularly, there is one super spicy jerk chicken stand north of Grand Anse beach which serves up healthy portions of mouth-watering (and mouth burning) chili jerk chicken.
Garlic Chicken: In the St. Paul's area, there's a tasty garlic chicken stand. If you like garlic, you'll love this chicken and there's even some nice seating areas here.
Rosanne's Barbeque: One of our favorite stands on the island and definitely our favorite chef, Rosanne is a very sweet lady who knows how to make her customers feel welcome and full! Her chicken has more of a classic sweet barbeque sauce flavor and she also does tender BBQ pork ribs. Delicious.
Dig In!
Grenada is such a tiny little island hidden away from the international food scene, but the cuisine here could easily hold its own next to some of the more publicized foodie destinations. The combination of sweet, salty and spicy really works well on the palate and the West Indie flavor deserves to be discovered on a global scale. Visit and try it for yourself.
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