I think I’ll take some time out to explain a little bit of the Caribbean, in particular, the food. My friend Pete asked very good questions and I realized that so far I’ve been explaining what is going on with me rather than what this island is really like. So for my first account I will tell you about the local food, even though I do have the choice of available American brands.

Local foods are a cheaper, and mostly a much healthier, alternative to the over processed American brands. Every Saturday there is a market where you can go and buy local produce, or buy produce usually grown over on Dominica. The common things you’ll see are plantains, bananas, star fruit, mangos, papaya, all types of citrus, dasheen, tanya, breadfruit, christophene, squash, and pumpkin. All are very good and plantain and breadfruit are my favorite. Plantains are like bananas, but a little bigger, and breadfruit is what I would call an alternative to potatoes. Everything can be served up steamed, but some are also good when fried. Meats will include chicken, pork, and salt fish. Beef is available, but in my experience these 3 meats are the most common dishes around here. Also, there are a lot of conch dishes too, but I have yet to try conch. Here is a short list of some interesting dishes I have tried: turkey neck soup, blood pudding, pig snout and rice, liver and lung (for breakfast, yum!), and goat water, a local favorite. Let’s just say nothing goes to waste out here!

The most common local drinks are basically any kind of fruit juices, coconut water, and mauby. Mauby is a fermented drink made from boiling the twigs or bark of a tree, I think? Anyhow, it is really good and I like to drink it at night to help me sleep. I’d have to say that my host mom probably makes the best mauby on the island! And yes of course there is the local rum that is sold at the stores, but then there are the little rum shops that brew their own concoctions as well. Since I am a Peace Corps volunteer 24/7, we are strictly forbidden to go to those. They are also usually the liming spots for guys to play dominoes and smoke weed.

Now as for desserts, they are not as big into that as we are in the states, but local treats can include sugar cakes (made from coconut), guava jelly, and bread pudding. I plan on making some chocolate chip cookies for my host family so they can see why Americans have such a sweet tooth. I don’t think I’ve seen anyone make any out here. You can of course just buy the prepackaged kind at the store, but they don’t add up to the homemade kind.

So this would be my top pick for a meal: Salt fish, coconut dumplings, rice and lentils, steamed or boiled pumpkin and breadfruit, with mauby to wash it all down. Then for a sweet treat, just a sugar cake will do for me!!