Food & Farming in Saint Lucia

Posted On Tuesday, September 27, 2022

Saint Lucia's shimmering beaches and lush mountain peaks are known as some of the most beautiful in the Caribbean. But the island's food and farming traditions have remained mostly out of the spotlight:

The drive from Jade Mountain resort to its Emerald Estate Farm takes only 20 minutes, but 20 minutes passes differently on the island of Saint Lucia. Fuchsia bougainvillea and leafy palms dance in the wind along curvy, bumpy roads that require even the most impatient driver to slow down. Fruit trees proffer their low-hanging goods in the yards of pastel-colored houses, where clotheslines billow with laundry in the breeze. Hummingbirds are everywhere. The few pedestrians out in the midday heat are focused but not hurried, sometimes giving a nod or wave as they navigate a shared narrow road. To be in Saint Lucia is to defer to nature. It's not that time doesn't matter. Time just isn't in charge.

Deferring to nature means that when the weather is clear, you dry freshly harvested cocoa beans in the sun; when it's about to rain, the wooden trays lined with the fermenting beans are moved into sheds before they are made into chocolate. When mangoes are in season, you eat them plain, or turn them into chutneys, jams, and juices. When the vanilla-bean flower opens for a few days, you quickly pollinate the plant by hand to ensure a small batch of pods emerge. In St. Lucia, great Mother Nature is still the boss of when and what to eat. In resort restaurants that welcome primarily tourists from the U.S. and U.K., menu offerings have become more localized, more Creole, in recent years. And how fortunate for me, because, as we pull up to the farm, it's nearly time for lunch.

If you do not claim Caribbean heritage, even if you have regularly visited this diverse region, you cannot distinguish between the cuisines of the islands. You may have had exquisite snapper, yellowfin tuna, or mahi-mahi. Perhaps you enjoyed fresh tamarind or young coconut, scooping the white flesh into your mouth after drinking the water straight from its husk. Myriad cultures across the region resolutely center food in all manner of rituals and social pastimes. But outsiders tend to speak vaguely — if at all — about what is meant by "Creole cooking."

Similarly, visitors to Saint Lucia aren't just coming for the stunning views of the Gros and Petit Pitons, or to play water sports along pristine protected beaches anymore. As Saint Lucian hotels and restaurants leverage their own land and work with farmers to facilitate a more independent system, their intent is to celebrate the island's cuisine and Afrocentric heritage. Take Emerald Estate Farm, which has been cultivating organic foods for use at the restaurants of Jade Mountain and its sister resort, Anse Chastanet, since 2007. And so in your next vacation recap, you might not focus on the way the shoreline shimmers at sunset, but instead pay homage to roasted fish in citrusy souskaye, piping-hot accra fritters, or green fig (unripe banana) and saltfish with bakes (an airy fried dough) and cocoa tea.

Views are indeed shifting. More chefs from a wider range of backgrounds are being acknowledged for their contributions, more docuseries and podcasts celebrate a wider range of food traditions. Incrementally, fewer Global South cultures find their foods consigned to "cheap eats" lists (as if every expression of French cuisine were haute). At the same time, Saint Lucians describe an ongoing cultural transition that has deepened their own appreciation of the island's rich history, both in the kitchen and beyond.

“To be in St. Lucia is to defer to nature. It's not that time doesn't matter. Time just isn't in charge.”