Bahamian Food

The next morning, feeling groggy from a late night of laughter and memorable conversation on Charlotte Ann, we met up with the MacLean's at a local restaurant (Capt' Jack's) for a "greasy spoon" breakfast. It was typical of American-style breakfasts, with toast, eggs, coffee, etc. It was a sunny morning, with a great view of the harbor, and we enjoyed more time with our new friends and my sister (how I wish she lived closer to us back home!). Here is a photo of Brian and Tiffany...



So, what do Bahamians eat?
It seems they do not have much of a food culture, but there are a few standouts.

One is a fruit called the plantain, which is similar to the banana, but starchier (is that a word?) and cooked most like our potatoes. Fried plantains usually sweetened with sugar or syrup are a staple at local restaurants as a side dish. When we were still in southern Florida, we bought plantains at a local market and I experimented with a recipe for dinner one night. It was fun!

Here is a Google photo of a typical Bahamian lunch or dinner plate. Almost every restaurant carried the same menu. Baked macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, and "Peas and Rice" which is lima beans with rice.

One of my favorite things was visiting local bakeries to buy bread! This is another Google photo of a Bahamian bakery, and it seems very accurate. No frills at all. Just simple loaves of unsliced bread, freshly made that morning, wrapped in clear plastic, with nothing else to sell. The bread was sweet, and we especially liked the coconut bread, also called "Abaco bread". Madelyn loved it with honey!

We enjoyed the local beer, Kalik, on quite a few occasions. :)

A few times we also had their local soda, which takes like pineapple and lemon.

In general, we seemed to eat mostly in our own environment on Estella, rather than going out to restaurants. The food was 1.5 to 2 times more expensive, and we needed to closely watch our budget. Also, it seemed that by this time (over two months since leaving home), we preferred to be "home", relaxing and enjoying our little family. I realized how much time we spent eating out at restaurants in the past few years. It was our form of entertainment, which is fine, but I think now I feel calmer and more content inside...and I don't need to be "entertained" as much as I value the simplicity of time together with the ones I love the most.