Vegan Guide to the Islands – THIS SITE HAS MOVED
THIS SITE HAS MOVED TO WWW.ISLANDLOVEGOURMET.COM
In this section I would be covering vegan guides to the islands in the Caribbean. Since I am from originally from Barbados I think I would focus on that first . I will add more and more islands I have visited. I will also be opening a new section on vegetarian and vegan restaurants all around the Caribbean. If you are a restaurant owner and you want to be featured here please email me giving me the information stating how vegan friendly you are.If you are a vegan on any island in the english or french speaking Caribbean and if you are interested in sharing where and how you eat do not hesitate to contact me. I will also be visiting some restaurants around the Caribbean and feature them if they are good in terms of vegan options . So look out for that.
Vegan/ Veg*n/Vegetarian Guide to Barbados
I will be telling you about some dishes I know that are vegan for sure,supermarkets, names of foods that you are not familiar with and beaches to go with nearby vegan friendly restaurants.
Casual dining/Fast Food/Bajan Food
For casual dining you can check out a health food store in Bridgetown. It is on the left hand side opposite RBTT Bank. It is called Jenn’s Health and Beauty. It is actually a grocery store,book store and cafe in one.It serves breakfast from 7:30 and you have veggie sausages and tofu scramble all sorts of things like plantains,muffins etc (Update there is a sign saying they have discontinued their breakfast)
Be sure to try the lentil patty it is a pastry filled with spicy lentils and it is very filling. There is a spin off to this pastry called the super and it is filled with pineapple and peas and more veggies and this pastry is called The SUPER ! There is another pastry called a granburger roll, this is actually minced tvp which is seasoned in a savoury pastry .In Barbados they do not call it TVP they call it “granburger” or burger chunk.
From 11 am Jenns has a variety of Caribbean inspired dishes,brown rice,eggplant stir fry,tvp stew,bean stew,garlic potatoes and their daily vegan soup and even a starch that you may be unfamiliar with which is called eddos and they have sweet potatoes and yam sometimes depends on the season. It is a hot meal place but not much seating but u can walk to the beach near Pelican village 5 mins away and eat on the picnic tables if you want a tan. I surely do not want one:)
They also serve vegan cakes and gluten free cakes and a whole range of roti and samosas.
There is also affordable shopping for the groceries.
They sell a variety of protein shakes and fresh fruit juices just tell them soy protein when you go. At Jenns it is a pay first and then serve and it is not a big places and it is noisy because of the shake making. I do not mind this very much but as I say you do not have to eat there you get a takeaway container and the beach is down the street with tables.
In the city there is a place called The Balcony restaurant. Here it is a kinda buffet but not the American all you can eat buffet . It is all you can put on to your plate or container buffet LOL. and that’s it. It is a fully stocked salad bar which has many vegan options and your can really enjoy it because there is always Barbadian peas and rice and gravy which is an onion gravy. If you go around 1 pm there is long line heading into the clothing department store yes! It moves quickly and the Bajans usually do not dine in and they go along their merry way so there is seating and the plus of eating here is that there is a wonderful view of the city of Bridgetown.
(Fast Food)I do not like fast food but there is a Cheffette restaurants which is yellow and purple building they sell a veggie burger with a pickle tomato and that’s it. It is very good.:)
Cheffette sells an all potato roti which is Indian inspired curry potatoes in a thin tasty dough. I would not eat this because there is no protein inside so I would get my roti from elsewhere.
Indian Grill is just on the tip of Bridgetown and it is in Baystreet on the coast. My hubby (who is not Barbadian) and I really enjoyed the roti from here. Even the skin is tasty. They really do it right. They make about 14 different types of roti both meat and vegan and, there is a wide variety. You can have all chickpeas or chickpeas and potato. My hubby loves the vegetable which a mixture of vegetables and chickpeas and he says it has a very good taste as the sweet pumpkin and curry work well in the roti and you have some potato and chickpeas to balance it out. Update there is an Indian Grill right in the city in Bridgetown. I cannot wait to go back home to eat there!
Oh another place Big John’s they have a roti which is more nutritious and it has tvp chunks,chick peas,carrots,green peas with or without potato in a thin dough. There is a Big John’s in Hastings near Accra beach on the South Coast and one in Bridgetown you cannot miss it.
Well let me get to Accra Beach. This is a very popular beach in Barbados but not the only one. I think the reason people like this beach is that it is close to so many restaurants and food stalls.You can spend all day at Accra rent a chair (for 2.50 cents usd for the cheapest chair) and sleep and you can leave your chair and come back but just leave your towel in the chair. On the beach itself there are many restaurants but I never checked any out for vegan treats. We usually go across the street to Quay Side centre which is a mini shopping and restaurant area. There is a coffee place kinda like an Italian Starbucks and you can ask for soy milk in your coffee treats. There is also a grill which does fish but do not worry they have some wicked sides like peas and rice grilled potatoes and vegetables and it is about 3 usd for a side and I am telling you it is hefty. This place with the hefty sides is called Just Grillin.
I was never a fan of Chinese food until I got desperate and ate at the Chinese Restaurant over there and boy was I happy. I had mock duck and fried rice. What a treat and you can always ask for no MSG. Next to the Chinese place there is Picasso’s they have a vegetarian menu which has no cheese and so I will dare to call it vegan. It is around 10 usd and it is full of protein as it has TVP as the main course!
Down the street from Quay side next to the Greek restaurant Opa there is an Italian ice cream place that I frequent with my hubby and it is called Dolce gelato I hope it did not interchange the words. It has a daily soy ice cream which is always a treat. He also makes sorbets too and there is an extensive Italian treats menu but I did not see much vegan stuff . It is lovely inside and I promised myself I should take pics of these places next time so you can see how lovely Barbados is.
Bubbas sports bar Worthing Christ Church has a veggie burger made of vegetables. I tried this burger and it was decent they served it with fries and some sauce and it cost me 17 Barbados dollars not bad. Bert’s Bar down the street boast of a veggie burger I never went to Berts!
Apsara which I review is a good Indian place to dine with a beautiful bathroom . I do not think their naan was vegan just ask them not to butter the naan.
Grocery Shopping in Barbados
Well I worked for a company that makes some vegetarian products as a side thing. They make Farmers Choice veggie burger which in my opinion taste better than the other brands. They make a Veggie nugget which is decent and a Love bite which is breaded veggies with a samosa flavour. They do not fry in oil which is used to fry animal stuff. They make their veggie stuff first thing in the morning Monday mornings and all the machines are clean. The plant is HACCP certified which means it has international standards. You may want to try those especially if you are on a self catered holiday.
I shop at Super Centre or Big B mainly for my ingredients for cooking as they are the more Americanized supermarkets so they have everything u can find overseas except tempeh we do not use this here…
If you are coming from the UK or America you would you would see all of your familiar brands. There are vegan stuff all over just ask them to point you too the right place. They sell fresh produce kinda and baked peanuts. They would have local Barbadian mangoes now which are all organic. Some of the stuff is imported so you would have to read the labels.
All supermarkets in Barbados carry TVP,granola and soy milk,vegan microwave products,tofu all brands the fresh ones and the ones in the tetra pak and they sell pre made hummous and chick peas and all sorts of things u will not be bored or hungry I assure you.
Fresh fruits and veggies
Trimart also has a few vegan items and it is a cheaper than the other supermarket but if you are coming from the USA the dollar is 2 to 1 so it will be fine for you.
I personally get my fresh fruits from Pricesmart which is a membership only thing and it is located in Warren St Michael 2 mins away from a big Super Centre supermarket and Food Court. There is also a roti place there and downstairs in the supermarket have a restaurant which has vegan options ..hmm oh yeah supercentre has a subby station where u can get a salad sandwich .
On Sunday in Barbados there are fresh coconuts on the highway for sale. They cost for abt usd 50 cents for one and it full of sweet juice and soft flesh. You can buy a litre of coconut water which we call it here for 5 usd and you can bring a bag or a container to get free soft flesh which they give u if you ask for free. Do not let these ppl fool you because you are a tourist(smile).If you have a rental car you can get up on Sunday morning down ABC highway near Deighton Griffith school and there is a nice man who sells there. When you come in ask the taxi to show you Deighton Griffith school I live 5 mins from the airport driving.
I think I covered many places I currently do not live in Barbados anymore but I go home often so this page would have pictures of food and updated info at the end of the year.
Remember like everywhere else if you tell the average Barbadian that you are vegan you would get a strange look so please say “I am a strict vegetarian and I do not eat eggs, or dairy products and No I don’t eat fish sorry!”
GO BACK TO THE SITE TO SEE INTERESTING CARIBBEAN VEGAN RECIPES CLICK HERE
The old Vegan In The Sun 
Just returned from Barbados this past Saturday. I was wondering if I can get your recipe for bajan seasoning. I know that you are a vegan but I think your seasoning would be good on chicken as well. Please write me back so I can make something different for dinner. Also, do you just steam your vegtables or can you roast them as well. We eat a lot of baked sweet potatoes. Do you have any recipes for squash. I think I will be visiting your website alot.
Hi Janet sure you can use the recipe for Bajan seasoning most store bought Bajan seasoning is vegan anyways. Since you are not a vegan you can add some splashes of *Worcestershire sauce *but it is not too important. Bajan seasoning is made for meat and fish but since I am vegan I use it on my protein sources.
Thank you for this very helpful site! Makes me want to visit Barbados!
You are very welcomed. Please visit soon.
Tay
I love the photography! Did you take the photos? I love Barbados as well. My husband is Bajan and we always vacation there.
yes i take the photos or sometimes my husband if he is around at that time thank you for visiting the site well i do not live there anymore but i always count down the days to go back on holiday too
I remember that being a vegetarian in Barbados was a bit difficult but not half as hard as being a vegan. There weren’t many options for eating out but I did include some of the options that you describe here. My go-to spot was Temple Yard in Bridgetown. When I would get vegetarian food at other establishments they are often cooked using the same pots or prep areas as the meat and I find that I would taste the residue in the food. When I aimed for all vegan/vegetarian restaurants there was less chance of that happening but the food would sometimes be bland. When I eat vital food, I knew that there was no chance of that happening but that the food would be very flavorful and wouldn’t cheat using msg or unhealthy seasoning. Just Grillin in Queyside is very popular but I think their prices are getting really out of hand. I hope that other restaurants are created or other restaurants recognize for true vegetarian/vegan options beyond just a side salad. Things could have been worse, like being a vegan in Cuba where they put slices of ham on the salad for “flavor.” lol. I really like your site and hope that things go well with your new book.
Hi, I’m originally from Jamaica and I know that when I was last at home, they had opened a restaurant that specializes in vegetarian and vegan fare. It’s called New Leaf, and it is absolutely amazing.
Just thought I’d share that info with you 🙂
what is granberger is that some kind of soya or something?
yeah it is some kinda soya:) like minced beef
This is extremely helpful, thank you! Your cookbook is my number one favourite. It makes me feel like a better cook! And now I find all these great tips for my trip to Barbados next month… You’re the best!
Thanks for the info, very useful! Great!
hey taymer, this is 2009–wud you be interested to update this?
Went to chefette, ordered lentil roti, 9.95 with drink, asked to get it without a drink lol, but was told it only comes as a combo right now–maybe it’s a new item? Also got all potato roti, 6.95. personally found both were pretty good.
Didn’t try the veggie burger, it was 8.95, because the buns looks to be standard white bread buns. With it being fast food, wondering if the Rotis were microwave heated? not a fan of microwaves. Saw another roti shop, don’t recall the street right now, they had 2 vegetable Rotis I saw on the menu, prices were 12 and 14. So maybe they are bigger in size than chefette’s?
Chefette’s– ended up having the veggie burger yesterday for fun, and don’t recommend it because not clear what the veggie patty is made of, could be soy cuz it did not look like a bean lentil type of veggie patty to me, plus the white bread buns. I do not recommend soy because 99% of soy is GMO and grown with Roundup. When going to chefette’s please only have the lentil roti and the all potato roti
A) Ital Trees Cafe — few minute walk from south end of Brandon’s beach, this ital food place is on Brandon’s Road
B) on Sunday at Brandon’s beach at the South end I got 1.89 litres of coconut water for 6 USD so way better price than you got 8 years ago, and in those 8 years there’s been inflation too of course
Went to a Ital Trees cafe (can get the exact location on Google Maps) today, ordered food for 10 bbd that included rice peas, stew, fried vegetable patty, avocado, banana, cucumbers. Put some of the yellow chilli sauce they had there on it. Was pretty good to me. Ordered a burger fry after for 4 bbd, it had brown bread buns, the Fried vegetable patty, avocado slices and cucumber slices. Put some chilli sauce on it too, thot this burger fry was pretty good too
For buying food at grocery store, finding the cheapest price fruit so far is the Barbados apples, and personally I’m finding the quality and taste of them in the very good. Watermelons are not cheap here they cost about three times as much as in Canada. Also the raw peanuts are a very good price. And arguably much healthier than the type of peanuts we get in Canada and the US (not easy to find raw peanuts in the Canada or the US–most of the time salted, and then if unsalted there are almost always blanched or roasted)
So far these are my top to grocery store buying recommendations!
Channell by Brandon’s beach ( Deacons Road@Black Rock Main road), 13 min walk from the south end of the beach. Has five barbados apples for 3.95 where is A1 Supermarket (8 min walk more north from the inter section i preceding mentioned) has 10 Barbados apples for 4.99. and A1 has raw peanuts for about 33% cheaper than Chanell. A1 is 2x -3x the size as well
Official name is Channel Supermarket, can be located on Google Maps
****official name and spelling is Channell Supermarket
Went to The Roti House , they have 3 vegetarian options from what I saw (brain forgot to ask if they were ital or vegan). Vegetable combo 14bbd, vegetable 12bbd, all potato roti 8bbd. 7mins walk from Brandon’s Beach. Brandon’s Rd to Deacon’s Rd, then it’s at the corner of Deacon’s and Farm Rd. Bigger size roti’s than chefette’s. Better price /size ratio than chefette’s for the all potato roti (the roti shop’s was 2x as big) and chefette’s lentil roti vs. the roti shop’s vegetable roti (roti shop’s 2x big)
went to Shabba Cookshop ( on Deacons Road, north side of road, 5 minutes walk from South end of Brandon’s beach, can get map pin on Google Maps, no sign on the outside right now but it’s a orange house, walk up the patio and there’s a grilled door. Suggestion to use the map pin to get the right house). This is an ital cookshop. I asked and 2 dishes have soy, and 1 has fish.
Went to SJ Health + Bakery (st. michael’s parish), 5min walk of Black Rock Main road. Have a bunch of vegan soy options (granburgers–i don’t recommend because soy is not organic certified so will be Roundup gmo), have a bunch of dairy options (desserts with butter, some patties with cheese). Had lentil patties. Look to me to be with whole wheat bread which is surprising to me. Was in the category of very good value to me at 5bbd given the size. Note: super lentil patty has cheese (and corn–which is not certified organic so will be Roundup gmo). Also have a vegetable roti (channa-peas, potatos, carrots and pumpkin) available mon-friday for 8bbd. Map pin is accurate on google maps
update for sj health + bakery (it’s 5 min walk from A1 Supermarket on Black Rock Main road), they mite not use any dairy here or eggs, not sure yet, i’m gonna have to inquire to the employees there that know the ingredients. Cause I noticed a lot of cartons of soy milk there they have in stock, so it’s possible the cheese is soy based, and the desserts use soy ingrediets. So will try to get a word if dairy is used there. The only type of meat they serve there is fish btw. There is no chicken, pork, beef, etc.
Note: this place has good hours, open till 8pm i think most nites. Note: for Ital/rasta places they tend to be only open for lunch hours
was just in warrens, st. michaels ,there is a vegan place called Lion’s Share Cafe! One of the only full vegan places i’ve come across in barbados! Other is Vegan Cottage at Black Rock Main road by UWI. Check for info on these places on happycow dot net or google maps, or facebook