10

Feb
2011

Food in Aruba: Part 2

Traditional Aruban foods are goat, stews, maize, and fish.

Poor little goat. They are everywhere in Aruba. They seem to eat everything–a lot of dried grass and cacti. I figure that is what goat must taste like.

Anyway, we tried out more traditional Aruban food at Queen’s restaurant.

Pictured above is a beef stew with traditional rice and beans (that were very tasty!), plantains, and cauliflower.

This one is the same except it was a chicken dish called keshi yena. The chicken seemed to be stewed with capers and cashews, and it was covered in gouda cheese.

Finally, we tried the delicious pan bati which is similar to a pancake mix, but with more cornmeal and spices. This one seemed to be fried. There was a sauce on the side that was vinegar based with a small amount of habanero pepper.

We didn’t try any other traditional Aruban foods, but I am sure there are other dishes I am unaware of. There are a variety of restaurants on the island, but only one type of grocery store–all run by the Chinese! Pretty funny. I wonder how the Chinese came up with idea of opening grocery stores on a small Caribbean island…

One last thing: I can’t forget about lunch at Dushi Bagels (I know–funny name!). The word dushi means “sweet”, “sweetie”, “precious” in Papiamento (Aruba’s native language). Anyway, it was a nice place to eat bagels outside and watch the birds and not have to pay $20 for one meal. And yes, most restaurants are a little more expensive in Aruba ($18-$30 for an entree).

Until next vacation…