Category: Food & Dining

A  guide to Bahamas food, cooking and dining throughout the islands. Find highly-rated restaurants, authentically Bahamian recipes, healthy eating advice, catering ideas and cooking techniques from top Bahamian chefs and culinary experts.

Throughout the islands, there are a great variety of Bahamas restaurants serving a delectable array of Bahamas food and dishes from around the world. But on every island from Bimini to Inagua, you will find authentically traditional Bahamian food.

Traditional Bahamas Food

Peas and rice

Usually served as a side dish, this is a classically Bahamian dish is made from, well, pigeon peas and rice. While there are basic recipes for peas n’ rice, it is prepared by different cooks and chefs following a variety of different recipes. Ingredients like pork, celery, tomatoes, thyme and local peppers are almost always used.

Bahamian hot patty

Like in Jamaica, the hot patty is a quick, inexpensive lunch or snack food, available almost everywhere you can find things to eat, even gas stations. These little pockets of flavour are made with a shortcrust pastry, topped with a filling and then folded over to make a semi-circular patty, baked until golden brown. Originally, there were minced beef patties, but now chicken and even vegetarian patties are common.

Cracked conch

Conch is very popular in many Bahamas restaurants, with both tourists and locals. It is prepared in many ways but many people think Cracked conch is the best way to prepare it. The conch meat is pounded, breaded and then deep fried. A little like fried calamari but more flavourful. This is usually served in with different sauces.

Johnnycake

The unofficial bread of The Bahamas. Like U.S. Southern cornbread without the corn. Made with milk, flour, butter and sugar, it is cooked in a pan, not an oven. Johnny bread goes with almost everything. A popular way to eat it is sliced it in half, with a slice of cheese in the middle, like a sandwich.

Guava duff

Arguably the most popular dessert served after dining. Guava duff is a soft cake that literally melts in your mouth with an explosion of guava. Made by covering guava in pastry dough, then boiling it. Often served with a sauce prepared differently but usually a rum custard.

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