Vistor Notes:

Subject: 'Antigua survival for vegans'
Posted by Miggi on: Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 02:04 PM PST

Actually, we found Antigua quite easy. We stayed 3 weeks in self-catering accomodation and found the big supermarket (The Epicurian, Woods Mall, St Johns) had soya milk, tofu and a well-stocked veggie section in the freezer department for veggie burgers etc. We even found vegan chocolate spread!
For fruit and veg the market in St John's (by the bus station) had a great range and seemed fresher than the supermarket.
Mamma Lolly's was a real highlight for us food-wise, as was the Rastafarian "Yummy" cafe in the South. See reviews.
Antigua also has a lot of roti and chinese places - most villages have one or both - but we didn't try any.
Most of the tourist activities seem fixated on forcing a lobster lunch on people. We did a day trip to Barbuda without a formal tour, taking a picnic and using a local taxi to get around, which worked fine. In fact we saw the same stuff - Frigate bird sanctuary, pink beach etc. - as the people who got on the tour bus, without the herding!
We also did a boat trip around the north sound islands with Adventure Antigua who were really friendly and prepared a vegan lunch for us when asked (pasta salad, green salad, roast veg and plantain). Really recommend the tour as well, if you want to see some of the uninhabited islands and wildlife with a knowledgable crew and a small group of people. Some of the people in our group had lived in Antigua for years but still said they learned from this day out.
Seeing the sun set while listening to the steel band at Shirley Heights is a touristy but nice thing to do once. They did a veggie burger with salad - watch out for the sauce, it spoiled one of my favourite shirts!