Real Bahamian Food

March 30, 2013

 

Since we left Bimini, we have bemoaned the lack of ‘real’ Bahamian food.  The ‘Taste of Heaven Bakery’, in Bimini, in addition to offering great bake goods, offers box lunches for $6-8 with entrees like curried mutton and steamed fish.  It is frequented almost exclusively by locals and you can get what they are cooking today (no real  menu) and when it is gone, it is gone.

 

Although we loved the Exumas, there are no restaurants at all in the Park, and the restaurants outside the park serve mostly typical tourist/cruiser fare – fried fish, fried conch, hamburgers, chicken, etc..  While these dishes can be very good, it is not really typical Bahamian food.

 

Going to Little Exuma, Long Island, and especially Cat Island we have had some great native food.

 

On Little Exuma, Dee at Santanna’s offered fried fish and lobster with the most delicious fish sauce we have tasted.  One note, when one eats native fish dishes, expect some bones.  The boneless filets we often eat are not the most economical use of the fish; Bahamians typically stretch it farther.  After I ordered the fried fish at Santanna’s the server asked “You have had this before?" before he would put the order in.  After I finished the whole fried snapper and complimented Dee, she laughingly commented “ I didn’t know if you could handle the fish” (i.e. the whole fish with bones). 

 

Le Pon in Clarence Town on Long Island brought some more fried fish (good, but honestly not as good as Dee’s), but accompanied by some delicious yellow grits and peas (beans).  Also, at an authentic Bahamian restaurant, since most orders are to go, expect that your scraps (fish and chicken bones) will not go to waste – Bahamian dogs don’t usually get Alpo.

 

Cat Island is one of the most traditional islands, so it is not a surprise that we have found native food almost everywhere.  In Old Bight, at Bim’s take-away, I had my first 'stew fish' since West End last year.  Stew fish, a traditional Bahamian breakfast is fish cooked in a rich brown rue.  It is typically served with grits or ‘Johnny Cake’, a heavy sweet bread.  They also prepare conch the same way.  Note that it is stew fish– not stewed fish.  After eating stew fish/conch, you will not want to eat for a while – it is very rich – a breakfast made to start a long hard day of work.

 

Stew Fish

 

 

When we attended the Good Friday Lunch at the Old Bight Children's Home (more to follow on this visit), we had some spicy stew fish, Johnny Cake, and potato bread (baked in pans lined with palm leaves).

 

Cordell’s restaurant at the Regatta Park in New Bight has virtually been our second home here.   'Cordell’, her daughter ‘Ceedell’ (CD), a friend ‘Pompey’, and a host of others cook up a great variety of native dishes: steamed fish in tomato/onion sauce, yellow grits and okra, fried chicken and fish, and possibly my favorite - okra soup.  I ordered a large bowl of the okra soup and a side of potato salad and soon realized that I had too much food.  The soup was much hardier than I expected, filled with ham on the bone, dumplings, white beans and of course okra – it was delicious! 

Not only do they cook great food at Cordell’s, they are very friendly and we have become friends. 

When we arrived last night at Cordell's for something to eat and hopefully hear some 'rake & scrape' music, Pompey and several other Bahamians were hanging out talking and enjoying there favorite drink of cranberry juice and gin.  It was an informal affair with cans of juice and a bottle of gin on the table that were used for refills as needed.  When we arrived we got a couple of beers and joined the group. After about 45 minutes, 'Ceedell' yelled out "Guests are here" (meaning a party of about 10 people from the nearby Fernandez Bay Resort) and the guys leaped up, cleared the table of the bottle of gin and cans and quickly disappeared. After a few minutes, we also evacuated the place and moved over to a nearby place in the park where the Bahamians were hanging out.  On reflection, we were very happy, that we were not considered 'guests'.  The next day Joyce and I were talking and I said "It was really funny when the guys cleared out for the guests and then we left to hang out with the other Bahamians".  I quickly laughed that unconsciously, I had categorized us as Bahamians - we have been hanging out in the islands a while I guess!

 

And as a final note, not only is the native cuisine delicious, it is relatively inexpensive at ‘local’ eateries.  We ate one meal at a ‘resort’in our two weeks here on Cat Island .  There one cheeseburger was $18; at Cordell’s this would typically be about the tab for two lunches with sodas.

 

Tom

Anchored New Bight

Cat Island, Bahamas