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The Barbados Rum and Food Festival is an island-wide extravaganza

Bajan flavours, textures, aromas and local ingredients come alive for four days every October for the Barbados Rum and Food Festival. We dive in for a taste.

Deepi Harish
7 min readSep 10, 2023
Images courtesy of The Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.

As I enter the media welcome party, with dozens of international journalists, I’m given a tropical-looking layered cocktail. “What’s this drink made of?” I ask. “Love,” says the mixologist with a flirty smirk. I know that smirk isn’t just for me — it’s a cultural Bajan thing — but still, I don’t ignore it. He continues, “It’s also made with a combination of passionfruit, spices and the best Barbados liquid gold, a.k.a. Mount Gay Rum.” It’s a delicious rum-based sangria that I go back for several times that evening.

Images courtesy of The Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.

Right then and there, I decide that over the next few days, I will drink all of the syrupy cocktails, I will not make the healthiest choices and I will not be shocked that my jeans don’t fit when I return home.

I’m here in Barbados for the annual Barbados Rum and Food Festival — a four-day fête that turns the island into a wonderland for lovers of…

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Deepi Harish
Deepi Harish

Written by Deepi Harish

Published Storyteller on Bon Appétit, The Food Network Canada, The Huffington Post, China Daily, Post City Magazines and more. Follow me at instagram.com/d33pi/

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