Dominica’s cuisine is similar to many other Caribbean islands including that of Trinidad and St Lucia. Breakfast is an important meal and often includes include saltfish – dried and salted codfish – and bakes made from a fried, slightly fermented dough. Fried chicken and fish – often with a creole twist – are extremely popular at breakfast, as are and fresh fruit smoothies. In season, fresh passion fruit juice is found everywhere, much to the delight of both locals and visitors. Other breakfast meals include cornmeal porridge which is made with fine cornmeal or polenta, milk and condensed milk and sugar to sweeten. Eggs, bacon and toast are also popular alongside fried fish and plantains.
Common vegetables include plantain, root vegetables (tania, eddo, yam, potato… collectively known as ‘ground provision’) and peas.
Dominica’s “traditional” national dish is the so-called mountain chicken (Leptodactylus fallax) that is one of the largest frog species on earth. It can reach a head and body length of over 20 cm, weigh over 900 g and live for up to 12 years. It has been brought to the brink of extinction by habitat destruction and overharvesting, and is listed on the IUCN Red List of critically endangered species. The remaining population of the mountain chicken is additionally threatened by the introduction of the fungal disease Chytridiomycosis onto the last two islands where it is found, Dominica and Montserrat. Hunting of the species is now banned on both islands.
Wild coffee and cocoa grows prolifically across the entire island, but few local industries capitalize on this resource. The good people on the Kalinago reserve will demonstrate cocoa harvesting and let you try a raw cocoa seed – quite an interesting and tasty treat indeed. Bello brand coffee is made from 100% Dominican arabica beans, but it is only sold pre-ground and coffee connoisseurs will probably find the output somewhat disappointing.
Speaking of the Kalinago, be sure to swing by their roadside stall to sample their freshly baked cassava breads. They’re not a taste sensation, but they are filling, nutritious, and good value.
It’s probably an arguable point whether rum belongs in a discussion of ‘food,’ but this is the Caribbean so we’ll go with the old saying that drinking rum before 10am makes you a pirate, not an alcoholic. Every local bar keeps its own supply of hand-infused rums behind the counter, an often-mysterious looking series of re-used bottles stuffed full of hard-to-pronounce local herbs and plants. A sampling of the fare will bring not just a smile to your face, but an appreciation for a remarkable craft that has yet to be explored in North America or Europe. One commercially-infused rum is the bois bandé type, made with an infusion of bark said to carry strong aphrodisiac qualities. We love the idea, but growing conservation concerns lead us to think that its worth a pass.
Every restaurant and bar with a liquor license will claim to have the best rum punch on the island – and when fresh passionfruit is involved, we say there are no losers, only winners. Give them all a try. But save the concoction at Pagua Bay for last… we think they may have actually earned top billing. Even if you don’t agree, there is a large wall of straight-up aged rums from around the world which the owner will be happy to curate for you, if you’re into that sort of thing.