What to Eat in Turks and Caicos? 6 Best Local Food To Try in Turks and Caicos
If you’re traveling to the Caribbean, it is important to consider trying its dishes, and that includes local food in Turks and Caicos.
The Caribbean Islands have unlimited destinations and attractions in every corner of its island. Turks and Caicos are one of those islands that proposes a good stay and exploration for tourists. There are so many resorts and bungalows that are ready to welcome you with open hands.
And not too different from other Caribbean islands, Turks and Caicos which corporated under UK rules mostly provide seafood as their main menu to complete your stay here.
The Caribbean having so many islands and locals migration from one island to another is quite normal. As well as Turks and Caicos natives who often visit Jamaica or the Bahamas as the nearest neighboring island, or otherwise.
This migration made Jamaican and Bahamian cuisine influenced Turks and Caicos cuisine itself. It can be seen that both cuisines often found in Turks and Caicos.
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Turks and Caicos Festival
In the last few years, tourists came to Turks and Caicos to attend its famous festival called “the Caribbean Food and Wine Festival”. At this festival, you can enjoy testing the food and wine near the beach. Hundreds of tourists come every time the festival is held. The Festival is held every October or November. You can check on its official website for the details of the festival.
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Besides the Food and Wine Festival, there is also Fish Fry that’s held every Thursday night from 5 to 9 PM in Bight Park. Held once a week, so you don’t have to wait a year to enjoy the fun in Turks and Caicos. In this event, you can taste the food, watching local performances, and also interact with fellow tourists.
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One thing that you have to know, there are no ATM on-site or even credit-card machines, so make sure to bring enough cash when you’re attending these events. But you have to be careful to save your money since we don’t know when bad things happen.
Enough discussing Turks and Caicos events, let us discuss its magnificent cuisine! Mostly seafood, here, we have a list of best local food in Turks and Caicos that will complete your vacation on these islands.
1. Conch Fritter
Conch is the most popular seafood in the Caribbean Islands and no exception in Turks and Caicos. Its dishes kinda must have tried dish when you come here. With many types of processing conch, Turks and Caicos conch fritters are the most popular ones compared to others.
The crunchy texture, savory taste, and served along with difference sauce might be the reason why conch fritters becoming so popular in these islands. Although the frying method is quite new since cooking oil was very hard to come, the popularity of conch fritters skyrocketed within locals and tourists.
You can easily find this dish since almost every place in these islands serving this dish on their menu.
2. Sushi or Boiled Lionfish
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The population of lionfish in the Caribbean exploded since 2006. Using that fact, the government had been encouraging the chefs to utilize this species. And the chefs surely made new dishes using lionfish and it became a hit since then. With the right process, the toxins in lionfish can be neutralized and save to consumed by people.
The most popular way to cook lionfish is by making it lionfish sushi or boiled it to be other dishes. The lionfish is actually has a tender and moist meat and nowadays it has become a popular dish within tourists. If you don’t have a seafood allergy, you have to try this dish on your stay in Turks and Caicos.
3. Lobster
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Another heavenly taste from the sea, lobster can be processed to be so many dishes and will never upset your tongue. There are two types of lobster local food in Turks and Caicos that are popular among tourists, that is garlic lobster tails and taco lobster.
As the name is garlic lobster tail, this dish is only using huge lobster tails that contain a lot of tender meat and seasoned it with garlic lemon butter sauce. This dish often enjoyed along with a glass of beer.
Taco lobster is a fusion of Mexican taco. The tender and savory lobster meat will take you to another level of tacos. One of the best places to taste the taco lobster is in Coco Bistro. This place is serving traditional and international dishes as well.
4. Snapper
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In the second place of the most popular dish after the conch is Snapper. Mostly the yellow fish snapper is grilled with lemon extract and a sauce made from a mixture of shallots and butter. This kind of dish is popular in the north and middle Caicos islands.
The snapper that used to be the main ingredient is always a fresh one so it could produce a flaky and moist texture. Well…most of the seafood in the Caribbean is always fresh anyway, so it will always be satisfying your taste.
5. Drunken Bird Chicken
Drunken bird chicken is a signature dish of Crackpot Kitchen restaurant which is owned by Chef Nik. This dish somehow has an appearance like jerk chicken in Jamaica, only with different seasoning that is exclusively made by the chef. Drunken bird chicken usually served along with fried plantain chips.
Besides drunken bird chicken, this place also provides another menu that isn’t less delicious, such as Tamarind barbecue baby back ribs, conch burgers, and many others.
6. Bambarra Rum
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Besides drunken bird chicken, this place also provides another menu that isn’t less delicious, such as Tamarind barbecue baby back ribs, conch burgers, and many others.
As for the beverage, don’t miss the Bambarra rum. This is the signature beverage of Turks and Caicos islands. This is a distilled rum since the sugar cane (which is the main ingredient to make a rum) is not growing in these islands. But it will give you other experienced while enjoying this Bambara rum.
There are so many events in these islands, and the best local food in Turks and Caicos can be completing your visit. Although most of the dishes are seafood, you can also find meat land in some restaurants, mostly made from chicken, goat or pork. Are you ready to attend the events here and try out their dishes?
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