It all starts with the mangoes. I’m sitting on a bench at Hermitage on Nevis, surveying a veritable culinary forest of almond, cashew, mango, breadfruit, guava, tangerine and mammee apple trees when it hits me – well, almost hits me. High above, a mango, coaxed by a warm breeze, falls from the tree and plummets to the ground, nearly turning my noggin into a mess of mango coulis. It makes me wonder what it must be like to live among such abundance, to grow up with a guava or mammee apple or governor’s plum at arm’s reach.
Hermitage Plantation’s co-owner Richie Lupinacci grew up at the inn. “When I was a kid,” he says, “I used to try and see how long I could go eating only the food that grew here.”
He pauses, then adds, “I think it deepens my appreciation to see where it comes from.” It’s this personal relationship to the island’s bounty that excites me, and as I begin exploring the local, the natural and the Nevisian, this sense of personal connection intensifies.
“All you have is the land and the sea,” declares organic farmer Mervin “Mansa” Tyson, the island’s leading provider of produce, as he hacks open a coconut. “We have to use them.”
In her home-based factory, Olvis Dyer cuts squares of fudgelike guava cheese while huge bags of tamarind, golden apple and mango await transformation into luscious jams and jellies. Elsewhere, Dominic Nelson-Ashley, known as the Caribbean Wine Man, uses his winemaking skills to turn sorrel, star apples, gooseberries and soursop into uniquely flavored potables. Locally produced honey lines market shelves, while, outside, a wisecracking charmer named Teen Thompson sells fresh produce, jams and hot sauces.
“Local,” she proclaims before pointing to the goodness in front of her. “All local.” Her goal is simple: “I want to give visitors a taste of Nevis.”
At Hermitage, there’s nothing more satisfying than sitting down to a meal prepared from the produce that grows all around you. At Mount Nevis Hotel, the menu of Acapulco-born chef Vicente Zaragoza has Nevis written all over it. The pumpkin-ginger soup is vibrantly tasty, with slivers of local lobster that add pleasing contrast in texture, while richly flavored tannia fritters are crisp yet chewy.
“I feel a pleasure using local produce,” Zaragoza tells me. “Why come here just to eat the same things you eat at home?”
At Sunshine’s Beach Bar and Grill, locally caught mahimahi is amazingly fresh, dense and flavorful. The options at Bananas Bistro span the globe, from saltfish and johnnycakes to Moroccan-style lamb shanks. But one bite of salad, and it’s obvious that the lettuce leaves come from the hydroponic farm at Nevis Hydro Garden, and the chicken satay made with locally raised poultry has an unmistakably intense texture and taste.
At Rodney’s Cuisine, owner and chef Rodney Elliott serves a cornucopia of traditional Nevisian delights. Choices include steamed whole fish with johnnycakes or mussa, a polentalike accompaniment made from cassava meal. There’s also pigs’ feet with red peas and chicken with “breadfruit cheesy,” a remarkably light cross between a cheese soufflé and mashed breadfruit.
“I cook from the earth,” says Rodney as she lifts the lid covering my steaming fish and a heady aroma of peppers, onions and garlic fills the room.
The next morning, as I sit on my deck at Hermitage, there’s a rumbling in the trees. I look out over the lawn and see three vervet monkeys that have crashed through the greenery and, oblivious to my gaze, are now sitting on the grass, calmly munching mangoes. I step outside, reach up into a tree and pluck a mango of my own. Breakfast never tasted better.
Nevis Restaurants
Bananas Bistro
Hamilton Estate
Average entrée: $22
869-469-1821
Hermitage Plantation Inn
St. John’s
Average entrée: $30
869-469-3477
hermitagenevis.com
Mansa’s Organic Farm
Cades Bay
Average lunch entrée: $17
869-469-8350
Mount Nevis Hotel
Round Hill Estate
Average entrée: $24
869-469-9373
mountnevishotel.com
Rodney’s Cuisine
Charlestown
Average entrée: $13
869-663-1644
Sunshine’s Beach Bar
Pinney’s Beach
Average entrée: $20
869-469-5817
sunshinenevis.com
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