st lucia

St Lucia is one of the many stunning islands down in the Caribbean. I spent a little over two weeks there with my husband Ben and found myself feeling very at home in a neighborhood called Gros-Islet near Rodney Bay in the north of the island. 

We stayed at airbnbs so I don’t have any hotel recommendations but I did notice this seemed to be more of a resort-oriented island (as in the vast majority of the tourists stay at a resort in places like Marigot Bay, Soufriere or Rodney Bay). For us, staying in a local neighborhood allowed for much more interaction with the locals. All those conversations, long and short, gave us more insight into the culture and congeniality of the island than we could have found at a secluded resort. It was so nice to find that the people of St Lucia are very welcoming and love a good chat.

Food

To me, one of the very best parts about traveling somewhere new is trying all the foods that a country/place has on offer. What do the locals love to eat? What do I find delicious? Here’s a list of all that and more.

• Local juices: The juices here are bonkers good. Always fresh and super flavorful. You can find them all over for about $1-2 each. I found that my favorite ones were always sold out of a big beach cooler by street vendors. Some of my favorite flavors included sour orange, mango, passion fruit, cherry, tamarind, soursop, sorrel, golden apple and guava.

• Roti: This is a word that’s used all over the world to generally describe an Indian flatbread. Here it describes a dish that resembles a burrito — the outside is what they call a roti skin and the inside is filled with a curried meat stew (usually chicken or beef). What I didn’t love about the dish is that it’s very common to find that much of the meat is bone-in so you need to eat it pretty carefully. But what I did like is that each one I tried was VERY flavorful in all the good ways.

• Lemon lime + bitters: This seems to be all over the Caribbean as both a non-alcoholic drink you can get at a cafe or bar AND as a canned soda made by Angostura that you can buy at any bodega, minimart, grocery, etc. Both versions are delicious.

• Green figs + saltfish: This is the national dish of St Lucia. Green figs mean green bananas and saltfish means salted cod. The way I first tried the dish was in the “salad” form aka green fig salad which was chopped up green figs mixed with saltfish plus other chopped veg and seasonings. It is also often served separately with the saltfish/veg mixture served next to slices of green figs.

• Cow heel soup: You’ll notice this on menus all over the island. It seems to be a classic dish here. I tried it and it does indeed have a cow heel in there. To me, the flavor is like a rich chicken noodle soup. The soft noodles in the dish and the rich broth were the highlights for me.

• Creole shrimp, chicken or fish: This is a super popular way of preparing seafood and chicken in the Caribbean. I don’t fully understand what spices are used to make something Creole-style (it seems to vary from cook to cook) but the flavor is suuupes amazing every time. The dish is usually red in color and never that spicy, just really flavorful.

• Lambi: This means conch in St Lucia (and in much of the West Indies). It’s kind of chewy like calamari and is usually seasoned Creole-style then pan fried.

• Accra and bakes: The first is a small cake of saltfish dough deep-fried and the second is a small cake of sweet dough deep-fried. Bakes often accompany a main dish. Both were muy bueno.

• Ground provisions: This is the word used to describe root vegetables like cassava, dasheen (taro), yams and sweet potatoes. You’ll see this term used often on menus as ground provisions are often a side dish or used in stews, etc.

• Breadfruit: This is a fruit that is more like a potato in use. You can bake it, fry it, boil it, etc. I really like it baked or fried.

• Tamarind balls: This is a very popular candy in St Lucia (and again across the West Indies). It is tamarind pulp rolled into a ball then covered in sugar. Sometimes though the inside seems to be more sugar than tamarind pulp. It really depends on who makes it — you can find lots of versions made by locals and some branded varieties in the groceries as well.

• Seamoss: Ending this list with one of the weirder/cooler things I found in St Lucia. Seamoss is a seaweed that’s massively beneficial in like 1,800 different ways. I had street vendors tell me it’s good for bones, good for gut health, good for immunity, good for the heart, etc etc. You’ll see it in grocery stores sold in it’s raw form (aka straight up dried seaweed) as well as in drink form (it’s kind of like a smoothie). Seamoss drinks come in a huge variety of flavors (peanut, ginger, oat + barley, linseed, ginseng and more). The brand I saw most often is Frootsy. But you’ll also find street vendors in a town like Castries selling homemade versions of the seamoss drink. TRY THEM ALL.

What to do

Here is a small smattering of things I enjoyed doing while in St Lucia…

• Pigeon Island: There is a lovely beach there for swimming + snorkeling, plus a few beach bars/cafes serving local food. You can also hike in the park and go to the top for a view.

• Duke’s: This is the place to eat in Gros-Islet for fresh grilled fish (especially on Friday nights during the jump-up street party). We went twice and had amazing meals both times. But the true highlight for me was the guy named Chance selling fresh juice to Duke’s patrons from across the street. His sour orange juice is easily the best juice I’ve ever had in my whole life.

• Castries Central Market: I don’t even remember how many times I went here because I came that often. I would take the minibus down from Gros-Islet for $1 (aka $2.50 EC) and walk all over the market learning about the fruit, veg and spices from the vendors. I would hugely recommend this if you are food-inclined like me. Also, I got a bangin handmade crochet crop top and booty shorts set from a local woman named Abbi if you are more in the market for cute shit.

• Drive-in volcano: Down in Soufriere, you can go to a hot springs/mud bath combo that will leave your skin suuuuper soft. It is one of the main tourist attractions and I never say no to being covered in mud.

What I’ll remember

• The sound of dominoes clinking as I walked around Castries and saw groups of men playing together in circles

• Talking to the dozens and dozens of locals who came up to Ben and me just for a chat or to say hello as we were walking past

• Seeing free-range horses cantering together across one of the outer neighborhoods

• The sound of the tree frogs at night — it is so high-pitched and loud but it becomes comforting somehow within a day or two

• How good the locally-grown ganja is here

• Riding the local minibus. I love when someone gets on and says “good morning” to the whole van and everyone says “morning” in return. And I love that you have to say “bus stop, driver” or “bus stop please” to alert the driver when you want to get off.

• How most people here pronounce my name as Zuzu instead of Susu

• The cats that hang around Duke’s hoping people will feed them grilled fish leftovers

• The sound of people speaking Creole to each other

• Watching local dudes ride their horses on the streets of Gros-Islet, headed to the beach or just wandering around town.

• Hearing the stories of the people who were raised here and have never lived anywhere else. Seeing (and being affected by) their positive and relaxed attitude towards life. It’s good stuff, man.