How an overlooked Caribbean island is unlocking its soul with a food revolution - 50 years after independence

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If I squint, I could be in my parents 1980s sitting room chock full with fringed lamps, squishy sofas and family photos on the dark-hued furniture. It’s the warmth that gives away our more exotic location and I tuck myself close to the fan as our host -Dexter - welcomes us effusively into his home.

It’s been a straightforward if long day flying from Heathrow to the Caribbean island of Grenada with British Airways, including a brief stop to drop people off on the runway at nearby St Lucia. After a quick hotel check we’ve just landed at Dexter’s restaurant - which spans the balcony of his traditional clapboard house - and we’ve already met half his family.

As we await our table, the chef talks us through the five course set ingredient-led menu which winds its way through the taste and soul of creatively curated local fresh produce to a backdrop of cicadas in the nearby trees. Then he rushes off - the small restaurant is fully booked despite the less obvious location of Dexter’s house just off the main road through the island’s main town St George’s and overlooking Grand Anse beach.

Dexter’s has a reputation that far exceeds its tiny footprint. It’s an extraordinary achievement and an experience that takes you beyond the veil of glossy international hotels and the luxury they stand for. And Dexter is not the only Grenadian leading from the home front.

Over in Mt. Parnussus, Chef Kennedy - a former lecturer at Grenada St George’s University and retired diplomat - is also inviting people into his modest home and beautiful, tropical, kitchen gardens with a tantalising glimpse of the sea. His Home Hospitality agro-tourism experience shows groups of people how to make authentic dishes in his small kitchen, largely with produce plucked from his plentiful land that day - and business is booming.

It’s a family affair with his daughter at the business end and her ambition knows no bounds. Ariel originally left for America but returned home to assist her parent’s venture. We are welcomed with traditional island cocoa tea and immediately roll our sleeves up to chop and stir fry before being guided round the garden to experience the riches of Grenada from mango to nutmeg and plantain. It’s the first time I have seen an avocado tree in the wild.

Another chef is doing it differently. Joachim Jammeal started cooking for his family as a child but when he realised animals had feelings, it sparked a move to veganism which is unusual in the Caribbean. His penchant for invention and ability to conjure up a vegan feast even on unspoiled Magazine Beach, where he cooked up stunning beetroot burgers, has seen him in demand as a private chef for special events. And he’s now even Insta-famous with 90,000-plus followers. His influence is not just Grenadian but worldwide as he pushes boundaries of tradition and ingredients.(see video interview).

There’s no doubt the small island nation of Grenada feels it has a lot to prove and is in many ways unspoiled. It’s a Caribbean oasis less obvious than some better known neighbours and has faced extraordinary challenges after being ravaged by hurricanes and political strife. You don’t have to probe too deeply with locals to find a seam of ambition and pride that stems from the country’s relative youth as an independent nation. It’s now 50 years since Grenada was freed from British rule in February 1974, after previously being colonised by the French. In 1983 the Americans and a small coalition of Caribbean countries invaded, triggered by strife within the then government.

Since the advent of more political stability it has fully embraced holiday destination status and the arrival of big holiday resorts over the past decades - while avoiding overdevelopment. We experience both the five star all inclusive luxury of Sandals, where ‘butlers’ will tend to your every whim in villas with plunge pools, hot tubs, and champagne on tap, to the quirkier delights of the True Blue Bay Boutique hotel . This is a tranquil waterfront resort with a more accessible price point and unusually named ‘Dodgy Dock’ restaurant and lounge bar, so named after it was blown down in a hurricane and had to be rebuilt. There’s more to the story - but you will have to go and find out yourself.

But it is in the homes of those who live and breathe Grenada that you’ll hear that the real luxury lies in the lush interior and the natural spoils of the land, rather than Instagrammable floating breakfasts. It’s not known as the Spice Island for nothing and you must fully breathe it in to understand that this island nation is so much more than the sum of its beaches and cocktails.

WHERE IS GRENADA?

Grenada is an island nation of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands Carriacou and Petite Martinique. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about 100 miles (160 km) north of Trinidad and the South American mainland.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW

• Nicola was a guest of Grenada Tourism Authority, True Blue Bay Boutique Resort, and Sandals Grenada Resort & Spa. 

• She stayed at True Blue Bay Boutique Resort, where rates start from £108 per person per night with their Extend Your Summer Sale, including breakfast, available to book until the end of December 2024.

• She also stayed at Sandals Grenada Resort & Spa where rates start from £2,109 per person for a Lover’s Lagoon Hideaway Junior Suite and from £3,315 per person for a South Seas One Bedroom Butler Villa with Infinity Edge Pool on an all-inclusive basis for a seven-night stay. Price includes all-inclusive accommodation, butler service and 24hr room service, return economy class flights with British Airways from London Gatwick Airport and resort transfers. The price is date-specific and is valid for travel on 31st August 2025 only.

• She visited Dexter’s restaurant, where a five-course meal with drinks costs £44 per person. Nicola visited Home Hospitality, hosted by Chef Kennedy, where the starting price for the experience is £90.

• Flights from London Gatwick to Grenada with British Airways depart three times a week, starting at £429 for an economy class return flight.

• For more information on visiting Grenada, visit puregrenada.com. 

This trip was hosted by Grenada Tourism.