Savor the Spice - One of Grenada's Newest Soft Tours

You’ve heard of hiking tours, sailing tours and buggy tours, but just a few months ago, a new kind of tour had been introduced to the island of Grenada. If you’re a foodie, you’ll love this one. It’s called Savor The Spice which is a 3 – 6 hour culinary adventure tour to local restaurants and stops where you get to taste and learn about authentic Grenadian cuisine while also being taught bits of the history of the island.

I was fortunate to be able to join the Savor the City tour in the historic town of St. George’s but I also had a chance to talk to founder and chief epicurean officer, Tasha La Touche, to find out more about one of Grenada’s newest and exciting soft tours. See our interview below:

1.What is your name and tell me a bit about yourself.

My name is Tasha La Touche. I grew up in the United States of America with Grenadian parentage. From childhood, I had an immediate connection and love for the country of my heritage. I have always had a passion to share Grenada with the world and so I consider myself a self-proclaimed ambassador for the Island of Spice; my little paradise on earth.

2. What is the nature or your business and when did it get started?

My business is called “Savor The Spice”, Grenada’s first and only Culinary/Food Tour. I launched Savor The Spice early 2017 which has been a dream of mine for over two years.

3. What inspired you to start Savor The Spice?

I have always loved Grenada and Caribbean cuisine and since it has always been my dream to promote Grenada to the world, I decided to mesh my gift for hosting and event planning with my love for Grenada and authentic Caribbean food. This is how I came up with Savor The Spice.

4. Can you list the different types of tours offered by Savor The Spice?

We currently provide four products:

Savor the City/Town: A 3-hour walking and tasting tour throughout the town of St. George’s.
Savor the Country: A 6-hour tasting tour throughout the lush countryside of Grenada and its interior.
Sip and Savor: A unique bar hopping experience.
Savor Cooking Classes: A 3-hour, Chef-led cooking experience.

5. Any challenges when you first started?

The major obstacle has been getting our partners to understand and buy into the concept. Also, learning how to navigate in the Caribbean business culture was another challenge.

6. What are you looking forward to? Any new projects, events or plans for expansion?

We are rapidly growing, adding new products and new staff. We are definitely looking into other markets for 2018 and getting into other forms of media, but we will keep that under wraps for now. Definitely bigger and better things coming in 2018 for Savor The Spice, so keep your eye out for us. Our hearts will always be in Grenada and we will continue to share Grenada to the world.

7. Any words of advise to anyone looking to become an entrepreneur?

My parting words of advice to future entrepreneurs would be this: Do not limit yourself. Don’t let naysayers or negative people derail you from your goal. Also, be creative and put in the work. Anytime you set out to be an entrepreneur, be prepared to work twice as hard and twice as long as your competitors.

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Savor the City Food Tour

This tour took us to several restaurants and vendor stops (on foot) in Grenada’s capital, St. Georges. It was a hot day. The sun came out with all its splendor and with no apology, but it was a great tour. Addie, our amazing and knowledgeable tour guide did a great job with sharing the history on the food items and the various stops in town.

Our first stop was at Two Cultures Restaurant in the heart of St. George’s.

There we had a true Grenadian breakfast: coconut bakes with saltfish souse (saltfish mixed with local seasoning, tomatoes and carrots if you wish) smoked herring and local cocoa tea. The cocoa is made from locally grown cocoa which I appreciate. This is by far one of my favourite dishes and I can have this any time of day.

I’ve always passed by this little restaurant, but never stopped to check out the menu. It was my first time there and I loved it. I’ll definitely be back to at least have a drink and relax.

We then headed into the Spice Market where we met with ‘Sister’ and got to sample some locally made jam and jelly. We also got a lesson on Grenada’s nutmeg.

Of course you can’t leave the market without having coconut water and the jelly inside the nut. Your life will not be the same. 🙂

Our next stop was at Native Food & Fruits at the foot of Market Hill. There we sampled two smoothies, soursop and mango-passion, made from real fruit also grown in Grenada.

I must admit, though soursop has a long list of healing properties, it is not my favourite fruit, but everyone loved it, including those who tasted the fruit for the first time.

These icey, fruit treats satisfied some sweet tooth cravings and were a great way to cool down while we hiked uphill to the next stop at Paradise Glass Gallery & Cafe.

Owned by Maria McClafferty, the shop is located at the top of Young Street and the end of Church Street. We were all most happy when we walked into the shop. Besides the unique, artistic glass pieces you can find in there, the appreciation for air condition was on another level.

Maria makes glass wares, jewelry and ornaments. Matter of fact, she makes just about anything from glass. The food, which she also made, was served on beautifully crafted glass plates/platters. Make sure to check out her shop.

Maria served a tasty smoked sail fish on french baguette with cinnamon cake and rum coffee. Yes, that’s right, rum coffee. Not at all for the faint at heart.

The combination of the smoked sailfish on cream cheese, which I had for the first time, was absolutely delicious. I was a bit skeptical at first since it looked like sushi (not that I haven’t had sushi). One of the tour attendees who is a chef, confirmed that smoked fish is well done and actually very good. He was right!

Maria’s iced, cinnamon cake was also a delight. It was moist and bursting with the right amount of cinnamon flavour. I am now thinking about trading in black cake for a cinnamon cake this Christmas.

Being a lover of things curry and almost anything chicken, I totally appreciated our next stop at The Nutmeg Bar & Restaurant. We were served chicken roti with soursop juice. Roti is a popular Caribbean dish made with potatoes, chicken and local seasoning, curried in one pot then wrapped in a dough. You can find it in almost any restaurant on any day around lunch time.

The juice, to my surprise, was very good considering I’m not a soursop lover.

Our final stop was to my favourite place in town, House of Chocolate. We had my favourite chocolate treat, chocolate cheesecake which was all I needed to top off my day. As per usual, it was so, so good and made from local chocolate. I could never have enough of this.

I am sold by this tour mainly because it gives the option of exploring our island and the savory delicacies made by locals. Also, you can check out Kizzy Rennie’s account of the tour on IsleofBites.com.