Elite Traveler Winter 2023/24

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Culinary tour in Nevis

Everywhere you look there are mangoes. Blushing in the trees, carpeting the roads, crowding tables. “Nevis has more than 200 di ff erent varieties,” explains our guide, Bankie, after handing over a slice of ‘God’s Blood,’ the juice now dribbling down our chins. The mango master class is part of a new culinary tour on the island of Nevis, which is the very de fi nition of paradise. Think: unspoiled Caribbean island with palm-fringed white sandy beaches, turquoise waters, pastel-colored cottages and lush, fruit- fi lled gardens. Add to that no cruise ships and few international fl ights, and the thump of a mango on a tin roof is about as noisy as things get around here. It turns out Bankie’s real name is Ronald King, and he works for the island’s Department of Agriculture, he reveals, while waxing lyrical about the fruit’s historical journey to the island and the di ff erent qualities of the 17 varieties he’s brought for us to try at a small farm on the slopes of Nevis Peak, the island’s iconic mountain. The mangoes are both fascinating and seductive — buying supermarket mangoes will never be the same again. The culinary tour is the brainchild of Nevisian tour operator Greg Phillip of Nevis Sun Tours, who prefers to use ‘everyday people’ instead of tour guides. “We believe in authentic travel experiences; and in our opinion, nothing does that better than a food-focused tour, made even more interesting and ful fi lling by the people you encounter. We want to tell our story and leave you with your own inspired stories to tell,” he says.