Organic and I-tal Living in St. Lucia


Connecting with the landscape and native plants of a destination is one of my favorite activities when I travel so I was excited to have a personalized farm-to table experience in St.Lucia. But I had no idea just how pivotal the visit would be.  The I-tal , organic farm-to-table experience  at The Body Holiday is an absolute must.


St. Lucia is an especially lush, verdant island so wandering through the restaurant's garden with Chef Damien would have been fun even if we weren't gathering food to eat. He pointed out essential plants like callaloo, breadfruit and papaya and explained local uses for herbs like peppermint, basil and rosemary.


I picked a big basket of callaloo, which is one of my beloved island veggies. The sun was so intense that the plants buoyant leaves started wilting as soon as I cut them. Our group picked baskets and baskets of produce for our vegan meal.


And that's not where the participation ended. We diced tomatoes, eggplants, carrots and onions. Since I'm super clumsy, I avoided using the big knives and snapped the green beans for what turned out to be a five course meal using only ingredients from the restaurant's garden. Enjoying the different flavors and learning about Damien and his wife Ratanya was a major highlight. The chefs even made a special tea for me to drink for my cold. The open walled restaurant sits atop a hill so that you can take in a full view of the island's beauty. Eating at I-Tal restaurant and connecting with St. Lucia's landscape and people is the ultimate  sustainable travel excursion.


Photos by R. Cummings-Yeates

Comments

Sam Dyson Huddersfield said…
What a wonderful landscape. I'm sure the food you prepared were great too!
June 4, 2018 at 7:49 AM
Fly Girl said…
Thanks for visiting Sam! Well, I just picked the callaloo and chopped up the beans, the actual cooking was done by super talented chefs1
June 11, 2018 at 7:17 AM
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