Grenadian
The Spice Isle — nutmeg in everything, even the oil-down.
Oil Down
Grenada's national dish — breadfruit, salt cod or salt meat, callaloo, dumplings, and chicken slow-braised in coconut milk with turmeric until the liquid cooks away and the coconut oil 'comes down' to the bottom of the pot, flavoring everything. A communal one-pot cooked over wood fire.
View page →Grenadian cooking is the food of the 'Isle of Spice', the world's second-largest nutmeg producer, where nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove scent everything from cocoa tea to ice cream. The national dish is oil down: breadfruit, salt cod, callaloo, dumplings, and chicken slow-braised in coconut milk with turmeric until the liquid cooks away and the coconut oil 'comes down' to the bottom of the pot. Lambi (conch) is curried; crab back stuffs seasoned land-crab back into its shell; saltfish souse is the lime-pickled snack. Pelau is the browned-sugar one-pot of chicken, rice, and pigeon peas. Cocoa tea — grated local cocoa boiled with spices — is the breakfast drink, and nutmeg ice cream the island sweet. Nutmeg, breadfruit, coconut, callaloo, and saltfish — that is the Grenadian pantry.
The Palate
Start Here
Breadfruit, salt cod, callaloo, dumplings, and chicken slow-braised in coconut milk with turmeric until the oil 'comes down' to the pot's base.
Why start here · Grenada's national dish — a communal wood-fire one-pot that defines the island's table.
Tenderized conch simmered in a golden turmeric-and-masala curry with onion and tomato.
Why start here · The island's prized shellfish in its classic Indo-Caribbean curry — springy, sweet-briny, rich.
Local cocoa 'tea sticks' grated and boiled with nutmeg, cinnamon, and bay, enriched with milk.
Why start here · The thick, faintly bitter spiced breakfast drink — a world from sugary cocoa, pure Isle of Spice.
The Pantry
See all 29 ingredients›
Vegetables
Fruits
Grains & Staples
Dairy & Fats
On the Map
Where this cuisine is found
Regional Styles
St George's & the South
The capital and southern parishes, home of the communal oil down, crab back, and Sunday pelau.
The Spice Belt (Gouyave, St Andrew)
The nutmeg-and-cocoa growing belt of the interior and west coast, source of cocoa tea and nutmeg ice cream.
Coast & Carriacou
The fishing coast and the sister island of Carriacou, home of conch and the lime-pickled saltfish souse.
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
