Dining, Island Style

“Let’s just stay here forever,” our son suggests with a contented sigh as we wait for lunch at Pete’s Pub, a beachfront restaurant in Little Harbour, Abaco. Spending Christmas in the Bahamas each year has become a family tradition; a much-anticipated escape from the frenzied hustle and bustle of last minute shopping, copious ‘to-do’ lists and all the hoopla accompanying holiday preparations. 

After flying into Marsh Harbor, we had loaded up the rental car and headed to Maxwell’s, a full-service supermarket to pick up a few staples on our way to our rental cottage. Our son and his friend, fresh off their college ramen noodle diets, began loading the shopping cart with several half-gallons of ice cream at $30 a pop. As nearly everything is flown in from Nassau or Florida, the sticker shock can give you quite a jolt. Knowing this, we always bring a big cooler-load of food with us for the week, including provisions for the traditional turkey feast since nowhere will be open on Christmas Day. 

With enough basics to last several days, minus the ice cream, we drove the mile-long Eastern Shore peninsula to our rental cottage, a pretty one-story home in an idyllic spot overlooking Abaco Sound on one side and a protected creek facing Sugar Loaf Cay on the other. The boys immediately donned snorkel masks to explore the coral reefs; my husband strolled down the road, camera in hand; I set forth on a mission: to find some truly authentic, down-home Bahamian recipes to share with you.