Where to eat in Dominica: callaloo, provisions and river fish

Dominica is the Nature Isle, mountainous, wet and green, and it eats close to the land that covers it. This is home cooking built on what grows on the island: root vegetables, greens, cocoa and fresh fish from the rivers and the sea.

What to order

Callaloo, the silky soup of dasheen leaves cooked down with coconut and seasoning, is the dish most often called the national one, and it is the place to start. Bakes with saltfish is the classic breakfast, fried dough with salt cod. Ask for provisions and you get the island’s starchy heart: yam, dasheen, green banana, breadfruit and cassava, boiled or mashed alongside the plate. Sancoche is the big weekend stew. To drink, look for cocoa tea, made from local cocoa grated and boiled with spice. The frog once known as mountain chicken, long the island’s emblem dish, is now protected and off the menu, so leave it be.