When I was a kid growing up in the Midwest it seemed that the treat of the week was ‘pot roast’. A not very prime cut of beef that slow cooked with potatoes and carrots for hours and all thought to be delicious. Then when I had kids one of them (now a vegan) used to call it ‘roast beast’ and was not too fond of the ‘pot roast’ tradition.
When we got to the island, the culture shock was extreme when it came to food. Of course, back then we did not have the array of restaurants we have here today so the choices were mainly local island foods. With the multiple cultures on the island in regard to the people that lived here and you could literally
go from area to area and get different flavors and most of which just make your taste buds EXPLODE with flavor.
‘Here is not there’ in many ways, but the food is always yummy. Many varieties of fresh seafood of course, we do have fresh fruits and veggies all year long. Our eating habits changed dramatically with a far more healthy diet, (not by choice early on). The little bags of orange carrots you have in the store there, with all the carrots the same size in the orange bags, look good but for the most part little carrot flavor. Not here. Here they are large, and not that good looking, but WOW do they taste good. Papayas that take up a very small spot in your local stores there are big here. The Mayan Culture on the mainland cut them up marinate them in clove and honey. Really nice. There are many varieties of Bananas, the best pineapple you have ever had. Tomatoes all year long and to top it off we have a hydroponic farm here that provides lettuce that is far fresher than 90% of what the people get in the U.S.
Now here you can get at a variety of different restaurants with everything from a U.S.D.A Prime steaks prepared exactly like a ‘Ruth’s Crist’ restaurant there, or some of the best BBQ you have ever had. The fact is that the island offers (besides fast food) a very wide variety of flavors and experiences.
If you are a ‘foodie’ and your eating habits are more like a McDonald’s drive through, you and your body will like it here! Check out a couple of my typical breakfasts, (tomato, basil mozzarella, papaya, a hard boiled egg and a little cajan rice with turkey sausage).
