A Guide to U.S. Virgin Islands Culture and Food

Of the many ways to enjoy the tropical setting of the U.S. Virgin Islands, you can eat, drink, dance, and stroll your way into the history of St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas. Flags of seven nations once flew over the Caribbean destination—Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, the Knights of Malta, Denmark, and the U.S. The customs of these countries blended with those of the original native inhabitants and of the enslaved Africans brought to work the land.

The resulting contemporary culture is a robust mix of traditions. Find the islands’ flavors in their foods, traditions in their festivals, and history in their downtowns and sugar plantations. You’ll get a deeper understanding of the islands and a stronger connection to their people.

Eat conch fritters, fish and fungi, and Johnny cakes

Watching our guide on a snorkel boat remove the meat from a queen conch, the official seashell of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and turn it into fresh ceviche captivated my third-grade daughter on a recent family trip. She appreciated the sea-to-mouth experience (even though she preferred the fried conch fritters we ordered for dinner). Seafood has been a staple of island life for centuries. Some of the earliest Indigenous people dove for lobster and conch.

The USVI’s national dish—fish and fungi (pronounced “foon-jee”)—has African roots. Enslaved women added okra that they grew to rations of salted herring and cornmeal to make fish and fungi. Modern versions treat fungi, similar to polenta, as a side dish, plating it with steamed or stewed fresh snapper or grouper.

Another local delicacy is Johnny cakes, a flatbread made from ground corn, which I first learned about years ago at St. Croix’s Estate Whim Museum. Historians believe that USVI settlers brought the Native American staple to the islands.

Originally, cooked over a flat rock near a fire, the island version is typically fried in oil. Because the long-lasting, biscuit-like breads traveled well, workers called them “journey cakes.” Go local and eat them like toast, topped with butter or jam.

For more island fare, try stewed goat or chicken, callaloo (a bit like spinach), and pâtés (pronounced “pah-tey” and not to be confused with the French pâtés), which are pockets of fried dough often stuffed with ground meat. You can also sweeten your day with red grout, a guava-and-tapioca pudding seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg, and topped with cream, a variation on a Danish dessert. Enjoy red grout any day, but especially on March 31, the commemoration of the 1917 transfer of the islands from Denmark to the United States.

Celebrate carnival with street parties, parades, and local food

There’s no party quite like the USVI carnival. A vibrant mix of revelry, costumed parades, music, and local food, the multiday festivities showcase Caribbean culture and its African and European roots.

Think of carnival as a USVI version of a progressive block party with music and dancing. For visitors, you don’t need a costume—just show up and have a good time as the islanders display their creative looks, exuberant musical talents, and tasty foods. The central locale, the Carnival Village, hosts band competitions and calypso presentations and features food booths.

Courtesy of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism

Highlights include j’ouvert (pronounced “joo-vay”), the break-of-dawn street party that signals the beginning of the main carnival weekend with its parades. Rising for the 4 a.m. start is worth it, as live bands and DJs on trucks play soca and calypso. At the main parade, kids are especially fascinated by the feathered and sequined participants as well as the moko jumbies, dancing and jumping stilt walkers of West African culture who served as protectors from evil.

St. Croix hosts the Crucian Christmas Festival from late December into January, and the St. John Carnival takes place from late June into early July. St. Thomas’ Carnival is typically scheduled from late April to early May.

Tour local rum and vodka distilleries

Courtesy of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism

The reason a glass of rum punch serves as the traditional welcome to the islands goes back to the production of rum, which transformed the islands from sleepy outposts to profit centers. Sugar plantations that initially exported sugar later switched to rum production by using molasses, a byproduct of sugar-making, to make rum.

St. Croix’s rum industry dates to the 1760s when the Estate Diamond sugarcane plantation first produced the spirit. Descendants formed Cruzan Rum in 1934, and the Captain Morgan Rum Distillery in St. Croix was established in 2010. Learn about the process and sample rum varieties on tours at both facilities.

You’ll also find relative newcomers making drink history in the archipelago. Tour Sion Farm Distillery in St. Croix, whose environmentally conscious owners produce Mutiny Island Vodka from the islands’ plentiful breadfruit. Started by a pair of friends two decades ago, St. John Brewers creates and sells craft beers, hard seltzers, and pub fare at the Tap Room in Cruz Bay’s Mongoose Junction.

Visit plantations, forts, and other historic buildings

Courtesy of the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism

At plantations and forts, the stones speak. Scores of sugar mills, carefully built into cone-shaped towers, dot the USVI landscape, especially on St. Croix.

At the 12-acre Estate Whim Plantation Museum in Frederiksted, St. Croix, tour a restored Great House and see a 1770s windmill and sugar factory ruins. In Christiansted, stroll by the prettily painted, pastel-colored 18th- and 19th-century Danish-style buildings.

In St. John’s Virgin Islands National Park, the Cinnamon Bay Nature Loop winds past the weathered remnants of the Cinnamon Bay Plantation. You can drive to the Annaberg Plantation, where placards detail how the mill, boiling pots, and slave quarters functioned.

On St. Thomas, visit the 17th-century Fort Christian, the oldest standing structure in the USVI. Not far away stands the Hebrew Congregation of St. Thomas’ 1833 building, the second-oldest surviving synagogue in the U.S. For an epic view of the island, head to Mountain Top, where you can also kick back with a banana daiquiri while taking in panoramas of the island.