A Roti-Making Course In Antigua Became One Of My Best Travel Experiences

St. John’s, Antigua—On the grounds of the luxurious Weatherills Estate, a quiet form of magic unfolded beneath the veranda’s shade. Flour-dusted palms and heat smiles guided an intimate roti-making class led by celebrated Guyanese chef, cookbook writer and culinary storyteller Althea Brown. The animated session felt much less like an illustration and extra like a homecoming.

Today’s vacationers aren’t simply trying to see a spot—they need to style it, contact it and expertise it by way of meals. Experiences like Brown’s class provide precisely that: a hands-on option to join with native tradition whereas studying about its historical past and flavors.

Food-focused travel is booming. The international culinary tourism market was valued at $11.5 billion in 2023 and is projected to develop to $40.5 billion by 2030, reflecting a rising want for genuine, regionally sourced flavors and interactive experiences. Brown’s roti class was an ideal instance—immersive, firsthand and deeply rooted in Caribbean tradition.

The expertise was a part of the inaugural Antigua and Barbuda Culinary Month, an thrilling extension of the island’s culinary collection which started in 2023. The monthlong celebration invitations meals lovers to find native delicacies by way of immersive experiences like “Eat Like a Local” and an array of signature eating occasions. Visiting visitor cooks of Caribbean heritage from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom be a part of forces with native cooks and eating places, creating a novel platform to dive into the area’s wealthy culinary traditions.

Brown, a James Beard–nominated chef and writer of Caribbean Paleo, guided individuals by way of kneading and rolling dough till it was mushy sufficient to rework into one of many Caribbean’s most beloved staples: roti. This tender flatbread is historically paired with curried meats or greens but satisfying sufficient to be loved by itself.

As she labored, Brown shared recollections of her childhood in Guyana, recalling her mom making roti each morning with out utilizing measuring cups or utensils. “Everything was made from instinct and with love,” she stated. She additionally spoke in regards to the dish’s layered legacy: having been delivered to the Caribbean by Indian indentured laborers within the 1800s, it has change into one of many area’s most celebrated meals.

“Food is memory,” she tells ESSENCE. “Roti links many of us across the Caribbean, no matter where we’re from.”

For me, the category was deeply private. Growing up, I helped my paternal grandmother make roti in my Guyanese family the place it was certainly important, paired with curries, eaten as a snack and woven into the material of our household life. Though I hadn’t made it in years, I’ve all the time stored my grandmother’s handwritten recipe for the dish tucked safely in my kitchen. Guided by a chef who shared that very same intimate connection, the expertise felt full circle. It wasn’t only a cooking lesson, it was a return to reminiscence, custom and residential.

Our palms labored the dough, flour-dusted fingertips connecting with every fold, whereas Brown mirrored on preserving culinary traditions. By the top, we’d every made 4 roti, cooked them on the tawa (a flat frying pan) and clapped them to launch the mushy, flaky layers—a traditional step in Guyanese roti-making. Curried hen and curried channa (chickpeas) awaited, able to be paired with our freshly made flatbreads.

Experiences like this provide greater than only a recipe—they supply a deeper understanding of tradition, historical past and elements. Being a part of the roti-making course of connects vacationers to generations of Caribbean cooks and their tales, giving context and which means to what may in any other case be only a meal.

For these mapping out a Caribbean itinerary, courses like Brown’s interact all of the senses. They are immersive, tactile and flavorful, instructing not solely recipes but additionally heritage. Plus, they provide the prospect to fulfill others who share a curiosity and love for culinary experiences.

This went past simply meals—it was a chunk of Caribbean customized, folded fastidiously between layers of dough. It jogged my memory why hands-on culinary experiences stay one of the vital intimate methods to attach with a vacation spot: they nourish the physique, spark curiosity and feed the soul.