Juliet and Franklyn Jeffers greeted us from the porch of Industry Hall, their cedar-shingled plantation cottage in rural Barbados.
A late-afternoon breeze ruffled the tops of two rows of 50-metre royal palms along the driveaway. Juliet held a tray of Bajan rum punch. “Welcome,” she said.
Our small group joined the Jeffers for a home-cooked lunch through the new Dine with a Bajan program. It’s designed to help visitors discover experiences beyond the beaches and turquoise waters on the easternmost island in the Caribbean.
With Canadians saying they want authentic and immersive activities when they travel, Barbados tourism has hit on a delicious way to provide a true taste of Bajan life. Sharing a meal with local hosts sparks conversations about people and place while supporting local households. They’ll also meet fellow travellers. Prices start at $195 Barbadian dollars per person, about $135 Cdn.
On the Dine with a Bajan website, guests choose among eight hosts, from trained chefs to home cooks, for brunch, lunch or dinner. They include Barbadian reggae star David Kirton and his wife Noelle, who turned their home into a live entertainment venue. Cricket fans can lunch with sports stars at the Cricket Legends of Barbados Museum in the capital of Bridgetown.
Deeper understanding of Bajan life, culture
We sat down with the U.K.-born Jeffers at their dining room table as strangers and left as friends, with full bellies and a deeper understanding of Barbadian life and culture.
“I think it’s very important for tourists to engage with locals as this would give them a richer more genuine experience of Barbados,” said Juliet, who runs catering business Jools’ Kitchen.
The menu included her favourite “Sunday dinner” Bajan foods: pan-fried fresh kingfish, shepherd’s pie made with local Barbados black belly sheep and hefty tomato and macaroni pie.
Juliet’s parents were born in Barbados and met after they moved to England as trainee nurses in the 1950s. Her mother returned to Barbados in 1999. The Jeffers and their two children followed in 2003.
They bought the rundown cottage in 2014, renovating the onetime farm manager’s house on a 17th-century sugar cane plantation.
Life on a former sugar cane plantation
Franklyn said they wanted to reclaim the land by living on the former plantation, a property where enslaved people endured endless hardship. He said other friends who have purchased plantations don’t want anything to do with past and have knocked the buildings down to build new homes.
“So, how do I feel? I get emotional. I do get emotional at times. I do get upset when I think about some of the stuff that could have gone on here, especially at night,” he said.
Juliet took us into the spacious kitchen, which still has the original stone floor, and taught us to make to make crispy West Indian pumpkin fritters. She shared printed copies of the recipe.
For more opportunities to get a taste of Bajan life, join Saturday morning shoppers at the Cheapside Market in Bridgetown. At the pristine Bridgetown Fish Market, watch vendors expertly filet delicate flying fish. It’s the key ingredient in the national dish of fried fish and cou-cou, a kind of polenta made with cornmeal and okra.
Bees and rum at home in Barbados
Try a rum tasting in the country where it was born. I sipped some smooth 12-year-old Doorly’s at The House Barbados resort on Paynes Bay Beach.
Walkers Reserve is a former sand quarry reborn as a 277-acre nature park in the picturesque Scotland District on the east coast. We rode in a flatbed truck to a hilltop apiary for a lesson in organic beekeeping from Mike Hinkson. We stayed sting-free in a screened bee observatory area, while Hinkson explained regenerative beekeeping practices.
Culture, food and language are also on the menu on the open-air #1 Bajan Bus, a colourful replica of the island’s 1960 Bedford buses.
When we pulled into Speightstown on the west coast, we were met by an exuberant tuk band and a colourfully dressed dancer with comically enhanced bosom and backside.
A Mother Sally meetup
Guide Georgina Callender introduced her as Mother Sally, a West African character who represents femininity and fertility. Tuk bands began in response to the outlaw of African drums by plantation owners. Enslaved people slid their drumming into the rat-a-tat of the Scottish fife and drum.
Mother Sally and tuk bands are big parts of the Crop Over festival, held each July. It began in the 17th century to mark the finish of the sugar cane season. Now it’s a month-long celebration of Bajan culture with parties, parades, rum, music and dancing.
We dropped in at family run PRC Bakery where a portrait of popular Barbados Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley looked down from the pink wall.
Locals coming in for mid-morning treats shared their recommendations. Rock cakes could probably use a new name, but the scone-like buns were delicious. We picked up sweet buns stuffed with coconut jam and a horseshoe-shaped pineapple jam flaky pastry.
Racehorses enjoy a morning swim
At Pebbles Beach near Bridgetown, grooms bring racehorses from nearby Garrison Savannah racetrack most early mornings to exercise the equine athletes in the warm water.
A few hours later, David Murray lifts the shutter on the Cuzz Cafe Fish Stand. It’s a favourite on the island for a fish cutter, a simple sandwich on a soft salt bun made with meaty fish like marlin, sprinkled with spices and pan-fried to order. It’s topped with lettuce and tomato. A thick slab of white cheddar is optional. But not the spicy Bajan Hot Sauce made with Scotch bonnet peppers, turmeric and mustard. Add a drop or a splat, it’s up to you.
Ask Murray what makes his fish cutters so good, and he grins and raises his palms. “It’s in the hands.”
Linda Barnard was a guest of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. which did not preview this story.
When you go
Air Canada, WestJet and Air Transat have non-stop flights to Barbados from Toronto, Montreal and Halifax. Check for dates.
Where to stay
Two neighbouring small beachfront hotels on the west side of the island provide all-inclusive stays: Treasure Beach Art Hotel and Crystal Cove, a Tribute Portfolio.
Where to eat
UVA Restaurant: Barbados Chef of the Year Damian Leach interprets Bajan recipes with Mediterranean flair.
For more
Go to www.visitbarbados.org
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