Food

Local cook puts Ragged Island on the map with savoury duffs

By ALESHA CADET | Tribune Features Writer | acadet@tribunemedia.net

The last of eleven children born to an educator and a seaman from the island of Ragged Island, Joan LockhartCulmer said while her home is known for its salt trade and seamanship, the culinary gifts of the women of the small southern island are legendary. And the success of her colourful mobile food truck called Sea Duffs and Ocean Foamis testament to this fact.

“My mother, Naomi Lockhart, was no exception. Though my father Kenneth was also a great cook, he was better known for his skill on the seas. Either way, it made a great combination for the baby in the family to have great culinary tutoring not just from my parents but from older siblings as well,” she told Tribune Weekend.

“I started catering functions because of the encouragement of my mother and a very good friend, Chef Michael Taylor, 38 years ago. The catering to this day still brings much joy to me and clients alike,” said Joan.

With her food truck, which is currently stationed in Nassau, Joan is always looking for new ways to expand on her family’s recipes which have been passed down to her.

When she invited to participate in the Junkanoo Cultural Festival put on by the Ministry of Tourism a few years back, she got the chance to do just that. At the festival, she came up with the idea to celebrate Ragged Island and its food. Out of this experience came her savoury muffins and duffs.

“Instead of sweet-based filings for these two items, I focused on infusing these items with products from the waters in and around our islands, to which end I produced the ‘Sea Duff’, which is steamed, savoury bread complemented by sauces (‘Ocean Foam’), and flavoured by crab, lobster, conch and fish. Much to my surprise, my booth, one of the smallest that year, actually won the pennant for the most original Bahamian booth,” she said.

“I’ve always wanted to own a restaurant that would showcase original Bahamian foods at its best, and because I did not have the financially backing to do so, I saw the food truck as a smaller step to introduce foods and flavours I enjoyed as a child to the country at large.”

Joan said she is proud of the fact that Sea Duffs and Ocean Foam offers fresh, never frozen, items from the beautiful Bahamian waters, caught every week and made into delectable appetisers, entrées, desserts and drinks. These include local conch and grouper empanadas, conch cakes, crab n’ dough duff, seafood duff, pan-fried grouper and snapper, her famous coconut red beans and rice, guava duff, coconut trifle loaf, seagrape and passionfruit lemonade, tamarind brandy ice-tea, and soursop and ginger lemonade.

“The way that the ingredients are infused into regular Bahamian style recipes makes the dishes unique. If I had to choose a favourite, I would choose the crab n’ dough duff which brings the flavour of crab n’ dough, baked crab, and crab soup flavour, neatly all in one package. It’s definitely a conversation-starter. Bahamians are curious and once they have tasted one of my dishes they are absolutely thrilled,” she said.

Joan added: “I believe that a person’s gift will make room and open doors for them. And I hope that one day, because of my first step, every Bahamian will know my little island and be able to experience the sweet fellowship these recipes create when families get together. You see, family dinners with great food, storytelling and rake n’ scrape music was the glue my mother Naomi, my brothers and my sister, Kayla Lockhart Edwards, used to keep the family together and ensure the traditions were learned by the younger ones coming up. It was an event every time.”

Like most businesses, Joan said COVID -19 has affected her both positively and negatively. She is maintaining all the

COVID protocols with drive-up service only, practicing social distancing and hand-sanitising.

And while she has always maintained a high level of hygiene on the truck, COVID-19 has sent her into overdrive.

“Business over the last year and a half has fallen off, but thankfully we have a great product that continues to keep the interest of the Bahamian public. Going forward, my plan is to do all that I can by keeping the truck and its items in the forefront of the food market here in the Bahamas. I will do this by introducing Sea Duffs and Ocean Foam one eventful plate at a time to one Bahamian at a time,” said Joan.

JOAN Lockhart-Culmer