On the Caribbean island of St Kitts, you can buy fresh fish directly from the fishing boats, and market stalls display a colorful range of tropical fruits. There’s always something interesting cooking on the roadside barbecues. If you love to eat, here are some local St Kitts food specialties I recommend from my visit.

The local beer of choice is Carib beer, made just outside Basseterre at the Carib brewery. It’s a smooth, thirst-quenching lager. The same brewery also offers the slightly more robust Stag and Skol beers.

For local soft drinks, try Ting, a refreshing grapefruit soda, or Peardrella, a fizzy pear soda often used as a mixer. Ginseng Up, with energizing Korean ginseng, is another popular choice.

Every Caribbean island has its favorite rum, and St Kitts is no exception. Despite the end of sugar production on the island twenty years ago, you’ll find a strong rum punch at many bars. Each bar has its own special blend of rum, fruit juices, cane sugar, bitters, and nutmeg. On the Ultimate Rum Runners tour, you can learn about the island’s rum-making history and sample local rums like Belmont Estate and Brinley Gold Shipwreck, which come in flavors like mango, coffee, lime, and coconut. Another local spirit is the clear CSR, made from cane juice and often mixed with local grapefruit soda to make a ‘Ting with a sting’.

Seafood is another specialty in St Kitts and Nevis. Lobster is abundant and can be found on menus from upscale restaurants to rustic beach shacks. Grilled lobster on the beach is a must-try, especially at Reggae Beach bar or the more upscale Spice Mill on Cockleshell beach. In Basseterre, you’ll find lobster at Ballahoo and Fisherman’s Wharf. Other local fish to look out for include Mahi Mahi, coconut shrimp, and grilled grouper.

Conch, a large sea snail with a pretty pink shell, is another popular seafood dish. It’s often chopped finely and mixed with flour and egg batter to make deep-fried conch fritters, served with a piquant dipping sauce. Conch chowder, a creamy soup with garlic and finely chopped vegetables, is another tasty dish.

For vegetarians and vegans, Ital Creations is a small organic farm near Basseterre that sells vegetarian dishes, juices, and smoothies from a trailer. They serve veggie burgers, wraps, homemade banana or carob cakes, and drinks like red sorrel juice or moringa smoothies. You can also find Ital vans serving veggie food in Basseterre, especially around lunchtime.

Roti, a soft chapati wrapped around a filling, is a popular fast food or lunchtime snack in St Kitts. Fillings include chicken, shrimp, or vegetables in a light curry sauce. You’ll find Roti on many lunchtime menus in Basseterre, on the Frigate Bay Strip, or at Cockleshell beach.

Market stalls in Basseterre sell fresh fruit, but you can also get your fruit fix from the Refresh Juice Bar van on Bank Street, which offers smoothies made with frozen yogurt and fresh fruit puree. The Smoothie King on the corner of Princes and Fort Street is another popular spot for fruit smoothies.

Spicy jerk chicken and pork are served all over the Caribbean, and St Kitts is no exception. Street-food vendors cook barbecued meat over oil drums along Bay Road in Basseterre, especially on Fridays and Saturdays. Some vendors also offer traditional St Kitts food like black pudding and goat water, a spicy stew of goat meat and breadfruit. Fresh coconut water from green coconuts is a refreshing drink to wash it all down.

For those with a sweet tooth, local treats like Guava Cheese and sugar cake are a must-try. Guava Cheese is a jelly sweet made from guava fruit puree and sugar, with lime juice for a sweet and sour flavor. Sugar cake is a crumbly cookie made from coconut and cane sugar, often spiced with ginger and sometimes studded with peanuts.

You can’t leave St Kitts without trying its national dish of salt fish and Johnny cakes. Salted, dried cod fish is stewed in a sauce of onions, tomatoes, and peppers and served with Johnny cakes, deep-fried cornmeal dough balls. In Port Zante, Ms. Moore’s street food stall behind the post office is reputed to offer the best Johnny cakes in town. They are served with a filling of salt fish or chicken. Vendors on Fort Street in Basseterre also sell salt fish and Johnny cakes as a takeaway lunch, served with coconut dumplings, plantains, and breadfruit. Enjoy!