Tobago - beach food, sun and fun in the sand

The beautiful Store Bay, Tobago. Good food, sun, fun in the sand.

Store Bay, Tobago

The food stalls in Store Bay are known for their delicious home-cooked local cuisine.

Callaloo is a complex dish composed of dasheen bush (taro) leaves, ochre, pumpkin, seasonings like onions, garlic, black pepper, hot pepper and flavourings e.g. pig tail or salt pork, crab, coconut milk. It is eaten with rice or with ground provisions.

Callaloo

Chicken and pigeon peas pelau. A definite accommodation of the Spanish Pilaf, the pelau in Tobago is made with fresh pigeon peas.

Chicken and pigeon peas pelau

Stewed pork with rice is a staple in certain months of the year in Tobago

Stewed pork served over plain white rice

Breadfruit or jackfruit

Oil-down and pig tail made by boiling breadfruit in coconut milk and seasoned pig tails.

Boiled ground provisions are an important part of the trinbagonian diet. These are root vegetables and include cassava, sweet potato, dasheen, tania, and yam. Boiled green bananas (fig as we call it) and plantains sometimes are offered together with boiled ground provisions.

Crabs in a barrel? Neh, curried crab and dumplings on my plate!

Of course, when coming to Trinidad, visiting Tobago is a MUST! No trip to the twin islands would be complete without tasting delicious coconut curried crab and dumplings. Best described as freshly caught blue crab, seasoned, cooked in its shell with a coconut curry sauce complete with garlic, onions, thyme, parsley, chadon beni, hot pepper and served with boiled dumplings. This dish serves as a staple for many islanders. 

Blue crabs

The origins of crab and dumplings is quite unclear  being that Tobago changed hands about 33 times, so, this dish could have emanated from any of the following: Africans, Dutch or Spanish just to name a few. However, some say the curry crab is of Indian origin and the dumplings are of African origin.

Delicious curried crab and dumplings

White sandy beaches, crystal clear blue waters, not a care in the world, cold Carib in hand, sigh . . .  trust us, you won’t want to miss out. Head to Store Bay, known for its colourful huts on the beach that serve up curry crab and dumplings (note: do not wear a white shirt while eating curry crab with your hands, as several converts have discovered within about five seconds)

Up close and personal