Barbados | Eating Well

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By ANGELA HOWARD
A common joke about living on a Caribbean island is that you learn to be a gourmet chef with very limited ingredients and spices (anything more than salt and pepper is fancy to me!). Food prices can be rather expensive due to the fact that all the food has to be imported. That being said, fresh vegetables (not frozen veggies, only fresh ones!) and fish lean more on the affordable side if you prepare them yourself. Even if the reason is strictly financially based, I’ve been regularly eating delicious and nutritious balanced meals for the first time in my college career!


However, it does get challenging when I walk the 20 minute walk down to the grocery store, only to see they are out of stock of their veggies. This is not me being picky. When I say “out of stock” I mean, they literally have no fresh produce on the premises.

I have seen grocery markets at home be out of stock of a particular item, but not even around major holidays have I seen a grocery store simply not have any produce at all. Now whenever broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green beans, onions, and potatoes are in stock, I buy three containers of each. Not only does it encourage me to eat more vegetables before they spoil, but it saves me an unnecessary and unsuccessful trip down to the grocery store.

Continuing with the theme of food, last Sunday I ate more calories in one day than I probably do during some weeks. The morning started by me desperately craving a breakfast burrito. I have been wanting one for the past several months, but unfortunately Ghana, South Africa, Germany, and Barbados all do not seem to make them. I had waited long enough. I was having a breakfast burrito. I haven’t seen any tortillas since arriving in Barbados, so I decided to make them myself. It was only a simple combination of flour, olive oil, and water, but I was very impressed with how delicious they tasted.