Christmas Day is the big food celebration for Bahamians, says Vonya Ifill, the director of talent and culture at Rosewood Baha Mar. Locals have a big dinner that includes turkey, ham, macaroni and cheese, peas and rice made with coconut milk and potato salad.
Peas and rice grace many holiday plates in the Bahamas.
"We have this feast in the evening and then at midnight go off and celebrate Boxing Day with a Junkanoo Festival," she says. "After dancing and parading around all evening and into the early morning hours, we end the festivities with a boiled fish or fish stew."
The seafood, she says, is always accompanied by potato bread or Johnny Cake, a cornmeal flatbread.
