Antiguan Dishes
13 traditional dishes, from fungie and pepperpot, the national dish, to ducana, saltfish, conch, and sweet sugar cake, each with its story and its ingredients.
Fungie and Pepperpot
The national dish of Antigua and Barbuda: fungie, a firm cornmeal-and-okra polenta, served beside pepperpot, a thick one-pot stew of greens and seasoned meats.
Antigua Black Pineapple
The national fruit of Antigua and Barbuda: a small, dark-skinned pineapple grown in the southwest, prized as exceptionally sweet and low in acid.
Antiguan Saltfish
Salted cod soaked, flaked, and sauteed with onion, sweet pepper, and tomato. The classic Antiguan breakfast, eaten with chop-up, fungie, or butter bread.
Wadadli Beer
Antigua's local lager from Antigua Brewery Ltd, a crisp, light beer named for Wadadli, today's form of the Carib name Waladli. The everyday beach beer.
English Harbour & Cavalier Rum
Rums of Antigua Distillery: smooth, aged English Harbour and the lighter everyday Cavalier. Antigua's signature spirits, neat or in a rum punch.
Ducana
A sweet dumpling of grated sweet potato and coconut, spiced with nutmeg and cinnamon, tied in a banana leaf and steamed. An Antiguan side and snack.
Antiguan Butter Bread
Antigua's soft, slightly sweet enriched loaf, rich with butter and brushed with more on top. The island's everyday bread for breakfast and sandwiches.
Antiguan Seasoned Rice
A one-pot rice cooked with pigeon peas, meat, and island seasoning until every grain is savoury. Antigua's everyday rice dish and a cookout staple.
Conch
The firm white meat of the queen conch, tenderised then stewed or curried with onion, pepper, and island seasoning. A Caribbean seafood staple in Antigua.
Goat Water
A deeply flavoured goat stew of the Leeward Islands, simmered with onion, thyme, cloves, and hot pepper until tender. Eaten with bread or a dumpling.
Sugar Cake
A chewy confection of grated coconut cooked down with sugar, often tinted pink and flavoured with ginger or nutmeg. A classic Antiguan sweet treat.
Tamarind Balls
Sticky sweet-and-sour balls of tamarind pulp rolled with sugar, sometimes with a pinch of hot pepper. A bite-sized Antiguan snack with a tangy kick.
Mauby
A bittersweet Caribbean drink brewed from the bark of the mauby tree with sugar and spices. Refreshing, root-beer-like, with a lingering bitter finish.
Build a trip around the table, not just the beach
Each dish page gives the ingredients and the story behind the dish. Start with fungie and pepperpot, the national dish, then read on through saltfish, ducana and conch.