A very large mollusk - kinda like a giant snail, to be quite blunt (hope this doesn't spoil your appetite for the aforementioned conch fritter 🙂 ) They live in those great big conch shells you sometime see used as horns (I could never get one to make that sound though). They are chopped up, mixed into a spicy batter and deep fried to make conch fritters. My mouth is watering just thinking about them 🙂

Thank you for that very descriptive explaination! I have promised myself that I will try some of the islands local cuzine so I guess I will be trying a conch fritter. Besides, I like muscles, cooked oysters, etc, so a fritter should fit right in, shouldn't it?
Can you suggest a favorite place to get one?

are they rubbery like a clam?

I have found the conch at Cuzzin's in Charlotte Amalie to be especially delicious! Lots of places have fritters and they are pretty good. Cuzzin's does a really great conch in curried butter sauce. It is served with sides and is yuuuuuumy!

I'm kind of a foodie and not really impressed with most restaurants in the VI....but Cuzzins delights me.

Pretty much - that's why they chop them up and use them for fritters (much the way we New Englanders chop up big clams for chowda). They can be prepared nicely and served in a dish other than fritters (as Bluwater describes - yum!).

Lady Blue - if you like oysters and mussels, you should be good to go with conch too. I would compare them most closely to cherry stone or quohog clams (same type, different size). They are chewier than oysters or mussels, but along the same line. Which island will you be staying at? On STJ Woody's is a must, and Vie's on the east side - awesome!

Oh, I like clams too!

We will be staying on STT but we plan to go to STJ at least one, probably two days.
This will be the first time in 31 years of marriage that hubby and I have gotten away, alone, no kids, no friends.
(our 31st anniversary is March 8th)
WOO HOO! I am counting the days!

Does anyone have any other suggestions on local food we should try?
Is it March yet??

Congratulations - sounds like you deserve a vacation and you've chosen a fantastic one! If you hang with us here on the boards, March will be here before you know it.

Jerk chicken is another common island dish. Jerk is the spice (actually a mix of spices) that is rubbed on the meat (usually chicken, but also pork) prior to grilling. It has a wonderful aroma and taste. You can find it pretty much everywhere in the islands.

Chicken roti is another popular West Indian dish. It is curried chicken and vegetables wrapped in flat bread.

Unfortunately I can't make any recommendations on St Thomas, but on St John, Miss Lucy's on the Coral Bay side serves authentic West Indian dishes. In Cruz Bay (STJ) there are a number of good places. I like the Lime Inn and Fish Trap - and Woody's for fritters of course. Have a great time!

Conch (pronounced "conk")

Fungi- (a moist cornmeal sidedish served as kind of a dumpling). Offered as a side in many restaurants. Goes well with the curried conch.

Pate' -(sometimes pronounced pattie - like a turnover pastry filled with either spiced ground beef, fish (saltfish, which is codfish), conch or chicken). Sold at most food stands and on the beach. Great with a beer on the beach.

Johnny Cake -(a round, fried piece of dough - not sweet like cake, more like snack) Sold at most food stands and at the beach. Kids love!

Plantains- like bananas - cooked/lighlty fried and usually served as a side dish.

Callaloo or Kallaloo- a soup - main ingredient is leaves or spinach and okra. Mostly eaten by locals as tourists are afraid to sample as most don't like okra. Many places add crabmeat and chicken. Kind of like gumbo. Very good. Some food stands/trucks will have.

Various dishes made with Soursop (a fruit) - such as drinks, ice cream, etc.

Souse - another stew made with lime juice flaored pig head, tail and feet (sounds gross but is surprisingly yummy)

Roti - a west indian style burrito - most popular with curried chicken (Burrito Bay Deli in Red Hook does an excellent job wiht these)

Oldwife and Grouper are popular fish to eat.

Make sure you try to taste some genips (fruit - small, round green balls that you break the skin off of and eat the tart, fleshy inside) - you can find genips on trees. The fruit stands seel them but they are plentiful on tress. Also, passionfruit and, of course, mango.

Ok, I'm hungry!

Michele and George: Cuzzin's has great local food. Besides conch fritters, they have curried conch and conch in butter sauce. They have fried and boiled fish (yellow tail snapper and Old Wife are some favorites.) Lobster! Then the meats- curried or stewed mutton (it isn't lamb) or chicken. Daily specials like souse. Wonderful homemade soups- chicken, kallaloo, red pea, etc. Side dishes: fungi, green banana, macaroni and cheese, plantain, sweet potato. Local non-alcoholic drinks like soupsop, maubi, seamoss, peanut punch. Specialty drinks like mango coladas, white squalls, painkillers, bushwhackers. Hmm, did I forget anything?

I'm hungry!

Bluwater: Genips are only in season in the summer!
Oh, I forgot about johnny cake! Yum! Each island and each johnny cake maker does them in a slightly different shape. Some a little breadier, some a little cakier. Wonderful to try!

Roti is a Trinidadian/Guyanan dish, but you can find it around. Jerk chicken and pork are Jamaican, also you can find it some places.

Re: oldwife - not necessarily a safe fish to eat, as are many of the other 'tropicals', as they eat the reef and you can be subject to ciguatera poisoning. Many locals will sell fish on the side of the road....me, I stay away from 'em (partly because of the danger, and partly because I prefer seeing them UNDERwater rather than on my plate. That doesn't keep me from eating mahi tho 😉 )

And I am NOT hungry - just finished with some Wok & Roll 😀

Ladyblue, every place we have tried the conch fritters they have a different batter mix. You may try one and not like it but don't give up. I myself really like JJ Texas coast Cafe around the corner from Woody's. But other places are probably just as good or better. If you go to coki beach (a must for us when we are on STT) try the vendor with the open grill (can't remember the name) he had some of the best jerked chicken with beans and rice I have had on the islands. Most places large or small anywhere on the islands are good or they won't be around long.

So, Vie's is still around? We ate there several times when in ST J in 1991. Where is she located? I can't remember.

Vie is most definitely still there. She's located in the East End. Follow the road. Can't miss it.

Oh mannnnn... you all have my mouth watering for some conch fritters and johnny cakes! 38 days to go and counting!

crickett : )