Caribbean Beat — November/December 2018 (#154)

At a traditional rum shop, you can work up a thirst playing a game of road tennis
courtesy barbados tourism marketing inc
St Philip
Spirits soar high in Barbados. For every church, a rumshop
is close by. Traditional rumshops sport a spinoff design from
traditional chattel houses, with three wide doors and two steps
leading to the road. Over a thousand colourful shops with drinks
branding are scattered around the island. Barbados, after all, is
the birthplace of rum. And, given the Caribbean’s climate, a fiveyear-old
rum has the maturity of a ten-year-old scotch whisky.
What are you drinking? The slam of dominoes may greet
you as you enter a rumshop. An intense game of draughts may
be happening in the corner, too. Lively chatter fills the air while
you sip an infamous Bajan rum punch. Some of the cheapest but
most scrumptious local food is found here, without the inflated
prices of cosmopolitan eateries.
Rum shop visits are entertaining, and so too is an exploration
of Barbados’s distilleries, which all make internationally
acclaimed rums. Although the Mount Gay Distillery is the
oldest in the world, in this parish, the Foursquare Distillery and
Heritage Centre brings high notes of enlightenment. The tours
are insightful, and if you’d like to sample the beverage, there’s a
fee of US$10. Leh we fire one for the road!
Try not to be amazed if someone sings a rendition of this
ditty:
Hark the Herald Angels sing
A gallon o’rum is just de t’ing
Peace on earth and mercy mild
A pint for a man and a gill for a child
St John
courtesy foodie nation tt
Many Bajans identify themselves as pork-mouths. One dreadful
year, the island experienced a pigtail shortage. Desperate to
quell the cravings and possibly earn money, someone broke
into an establishment which sold “proper pork” to obtain some
buckets of pigtail. Those were some serious times. Barbecued
pigtail is generally a street food, but it’s also accessible in some
restaurants islandwide.
If you’re around on a Saturday, this day is dedicated to
pudding and souse. The pudding is made from grated and
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