Bouyon and Callaloo

Bouyon is the Saint Lucian one-pot: dasheen, yam, sweet potato, green fig, dumplings and whatever meat there is, salt beef or pigtail traditionally, simmered together with herbs until the provisions thicken the broth. It is Saturday and Creole Day food and it is cooked in enormous pots over wood fires in the street. Callaloo is the other, made from dasheen leaves cooked down with coconut milk, okra and crab or salt meat into a thick green soup, and it is a dish that exists across the region with a different definition on almost every island. Both are eaten with cassava bread or a bake.

What you actually see

• Bouyon - provisions, dumplings and meat in one pot over wood.
• Callaloo - dasheen leaves cooked down with coconut milk and crab.
• The wood fires - how both are cooked at Creole Day.
• Cassava bread - the accompaniment for both.

When to go

Year-round, with Saturday the traditional day for bouyon. Jounen Kwéyòl at the end of October is when both are cooked in the street across the island and is much the best opportunity.

Honest expectations

Traditional bouyon uses salt beef, pigtail and other cuts that some visitors would rather avoid; ask what is in the pot. Callaloo made with crab is not vegetarian even when it looks it. Both take hours and are rarely made to order. Restaurant versions are usually thinner than the street ones.

Nearby

Creole Day host villages in October; local restaurants year-round.