Saint Lucian cuisine is Creole: a mix of African cooking methods, French technique, and the tropical ingredients of the Caribbean. The food is generally unpretentious, hearty, and good.
The national dish is green fig and saltfish — green (unripe) bananas boiled and served with salted cod sautéed with onions, peppers, and herbs. It sounds odd but it works. You'll find it on menus at local restaurants and at Jounen Kwéyòl. Bouyon, a one-pot stew with meat, dumplings, yams, and sweet potatoes, is a staple family meal. Callaloo soup — made from leafy greens, coconut milk, and often crab — is widely available.
Seafood is excellent. Fresh fish, lambi (conch), and crayfish appear on most restaurant menus. Along the waterfront you'll find vendors selling fried fish and bakes (deep-fried dough). The Castries market is the best place to buy fresh produce — it's busy on Saturday mornings.
Rum is the drink. Bounty Rum is distilled on the island and is the most widely drunk locally; it's rougher and cheaper than the export rums. Chairman's Reserve is the more refined Saint Lucian rum and is worth trying neat. Piton lager is the local beer, light and perfectly suited to the heat.
For eating out, the best local meals are found in small restaurants away from the resort strip: Gros Islet and the Castries market area for cheap local food, and Soufrière for a good mix of tourist and local options. The Friday night jump-up at Gros Islet is a weekly street party where vendors sell grilled chicken, fish, and drinks from the roadside — it's noisy, sociable, and the food is good.
At the resort end, Anse Chastanet has some of the island's best dining. Most resort restaurants are expensive and fine but not specifically Saint Lucian in character.