You don’t have to hop a plane to get authentic Turkish kebabs, Louisiana Creole gumbo or Spanish paella.
This weekend, chefs from around the world will be bringing their region’s signature dishes here for the EAT! Vancouver festival’s World Culinary Travel Expo, which is being held at B.C. Place from Friday until Sunday.
The festival-within-a-festival will be promoting culinary tourism, with visiting chefs preparing exotic dishes.
Barbados-born, Toronto-based chef Jason Innis, who’s representing the Barbados booth, will be preparing the island’s national dish — flying fish.
The pan-fried fish will be served with breadfruit salad, curried spot-prawn soup and coconut macaroons with flambéed bananas.
“Barbados is sort of a melting pot (and has) a huge mixture of cuisine types,” Innis said. “The cuisine uses a lot of new-world ingredients with European styles and East Asian spice and flavour.”
While Barbados has a plethora of Zagat-rated restaurants, Innis said some of the best food is found at Bajan (Barbadian) rum shops — small bars and restaurants run out of the front of peoples’ houses.
“There are more rum shops in Barbados than there are pubs in England,” Innis said.
