As long as I’ve lived in New York, I’ve been surrounded by colleagues, ex-colleagues, and friends who are regular vacationers in the Caribbean islands. The most common Caribbean destinations that Americans go to are Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands (simply due to not requiring a passport since they are technically part of the U.S.). But the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, Aruba, and St. Lucia are also high on my anecdotal list of working and living in New York City for the last 18 years. Before this trip (and technically Roatan, Honduras, since the Bay islands that Roatan is part of is technically in the Caribbean), the last time Chris and I had been anywhere in the Caribbean was in November 2012 when we went to Puerto Rico for Thanksgiving. What I can definitively say is that no one I’ve ever known who has visited any island in the Caribbean has ever come back telling me about the rich cultures and their unique foods that they experienced and learned about. Most Americans aren’t going to these places for a culture trip; they’re going to relax, escape work and their usual day-to-day lives, and hang out by a tropical white sand beach or pool. Many are staying at resorts, some all-inclusive, and may never leave said resort (or resort network). Before I used to think this was silly, to spend all that money and time to fly all the way down to the Caribbean just to stay on a single property the entire time and not actually experience anything new. But my opinion on this has changed over the years (I’m trying…): people obviously travel for different reasons, and demanding jobs/stressful lives may leave you so drained that you just do not want to put in the work (yes, it’s really work!) to meticulously plan a trip. So you spend money on the all-in-one packages to reduce the mental load and just give your mind and body a break for a few days or a week. I finally started getting this in my mid-30s, and now that I have a child and am 40, I definitely empathize.

However, I will say that it’s still a miss to overlook that each of these Caribbean islands has a distinct culture with its own histories and traditions. Barbados, for one, is supposed to be the most “British Caribbean” of the four islands we are visiting on this trip, but its identity is very much Bajan, rooted in West African and European history. Barbados was colonized by the British from the early 17th century, with an intense (and inhumane…) sugar plantation system. From that, to this day rum is still in heavy production here; the most premium rum, as with many other countries, gets exported out of the country to places like the U.S. and the U.K. For food here, flying fish is one of the most popular fish to eat. Fish cakes, fish cutters (fried fish sandwiches), pudding and souse, rich and peas, macaroni pie, and fish fry are also common foods. All of these foods have multicultural influence from the English/Irish, West African, East Indian, and the indigenous Taino people.

While I enjoy beaches and nice hotel pools, it’s hard for me to imagine traveling to any place and not trying to experience some local culture. One thing I’ve noticed in our short time in Barbados is how much Trinidadian and Jamaican food influence there is here. It feels like a pan-Caribbean vibe every which way we turn. Barbados gets lots of people coming into their country for work and study from other parts of the Caribbean, and a good number of those people are coming from Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago. More and more Trini and Jamaican style food trucks seem to be opening up in Barbados, likely due to the demand from Jamaicans and Trinis who have temporarily or permanently relocated here. Jamaican food is prevalent here because it has one of the Caribbean’s strongest global food brands, with dishes like jerk, patties, oxtail, curry goat, rice and peas, and Scotch-bonnet-heavy hot sauces instantly understood and widely enjoyed.

I love learning these types of things — these are things I never would have known unless I came here. This is not a part of the world I’ve ever had high on my travel list, but now that I am here, I’m learning as much as I can about the local and very distinct cultures of each place, and I love it.