My family and I have lived in a few different tropical cultures, and have embraced local ingredients and cuisine everywhere we’ve rooted down. But as a true small-town girl, growing up in rural Northern Ontario, there is one key ingredient that I always asked friends and family to bring us from my c...

The cashew fruit also known as the cashew apple, grows in the warm tropical climate. We are fortunate to have a few mature cashew trees at Beyond Vitality Nature Camp. The cashew fruit is where the actual cashew nut is hanging from. The nut is enclosed in a thick shell and skin. Eaten raw, the fruit...

Right on the day I arrived in Dominica, I came across an intriguing berry on the way to the Emerald Pool. The plant, called Clidemia hirta (commonly - Soapbush or Koster's Curse), grows all around the island as well as in other tropical moist climates. Whenever I found Clidemia, I would pick the ber...

Got cabbage? Ferment it! Learning how to make sauerkraut is a wonderful method to preserve an abundant harvest of cabbage. Homemade sauerkraut is a fun fermented food that's easy to prepare and good for you.

Sauerkraut is a live-cultured “probiotic” food. It contains lactobacilli, beneficial bact...

This is our healthy and Caribbean twist on the classic American macaroni salad. Our Breadfruit Salad combines many of the same ingredients as the above but with healthier alternatives and local breadfruit to replace the typical pasta – which makes this recipe vegetarian, gluten-free and local to the...

While living in Trinidad, I had the pleasure of tasting many versions of homemade Trini tamarind (“tambran”) sauce. Now that we’re enjoying our own piece of tropical land in Dominica at Beyond Vitality Nature Camp, we have a lovely organic tamarind tree. It was about time for me to create my own hea...

Caribbean Callaloo is the national dish of Trinidad and Tobago and is eaten island wide throughout most of the Caribbean. It’s full of nutrients and especially rich in iron, folic acid and lycopene. Sometimes it's a soup and other times it's a thick sauce to accompany meat or vegetables. There are s...

After a long and wonderful vacation with much indulgence and some late nights, I felt the need to give my immune system a boost, especially with the recent outbreak of Dengue here in Trinidad and Tobago.

Some fresh juicing, much needed sleep, exercise and miso soup did the trick.  I recommend its u...