Where to eat in St. Vincent: breadfruit, jackfish and the market

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a farming, fishing chain of islands, less touristed than most and all the more honest for it. The food is grown and caught close to home, and one crop sits at the centre of it: breadfruit.

What to order

The national dish is roasted breadfruit and fried jackfish, and it carries real history: breadfruit reached these islands in 1793, brought by Captain Bligh and planted in the Kingstown Botanic Gardens, the oldest in the western hemisphere, where a descendant of that first tree still stands. Roasted over coals and served with fried jack, it is the plate to start with. Around it, look for callaloo, provisions, fresh seafood and local rum, and arrowroot, long one of the island’s main crops, still turns up in the baking. The Kingstown market is the place to see it all.

The kitchens

Before you go

Kitchens here keep local hours and the best cooking is plain and homemade, so ask what is fresh. The number on each page is the business’s own.