The flavours that made us: Barbados is on the menu

As Barbados approaches 60 years of Independence, its Food and Rum Festival invites us to discover the island through the flavours of home.

Ask chef Damian Leach what takes him home and the answer comes before the first mouthful. It is the smell of saltfish boiling.

Roast breadfruit belongs in that memory too. Its soft flesh alongside saltfish is a familiar pleasure that has stayed with him as his cooking has developed. His first lessons in flavour came from his mother and grandmother. “You gotta learn flavours from home first,” he says, joking about how much a cook’s education depends on eating well while growing up. Experience has since widened his palate. “Flavours are something I think you learn when you explore more.