​A visit from my grandkids is always an occasion of joy for me. They’re all unique, they love Grenada & now that they’re adults, organizing activities has become a lot less work/worry.

​That said, the particular challenge this year was trying to shop for twins Jenny & Thea who are strict vegans. While legumes & fresh vegetables, fruits & nuts are readily available, many items are not. Vegan cheese & yogurt as well as a host of other items are not, or only sporadically.  When they are available, they are carried by only one supermarket, so we often had to go out of our way to do our shopping. To their credit, they were pretty good at selecting nutritious items in spite of the challenge. One thing they debated over, was whether to buy soy milk (not their favorite) or almond milk. The latter’s manufacturing requires the use of a great deal of water, as almond trees need lots of water. Almond milk is also much more expensive. Since they’re in an environmental sciences curriculum at college, they are very aware of these differences.

We found tofu soy granules, all sorts of pasta and on occasion even a package of grated vegan cheese. Hummus was also available. The girls are pretty good cooks, so their cousin, Tabitha, Dick & I didn’t feel deprived.
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Cost, of course, is something else again. As there’s very little demand & turnover for these items, the prices are astronomical. Luckily, grandma is still at the stage where spoiling them is part of the deal. As the girls do Google cooking (i.e. find recipes on Google) they tried to insist that only a certain brand of condiment would do. I managed to convince them that hot sauce was hot sauce, no matter what brand & as long as it didn’t contain anything they couldn’t eat, it would do just fine, Ditto for soy sauce, vinegar, salt, sugar, etc.
The end result of all this is that some of the recipes were so good, I’ve started making some vegan dishes for us & a friend who is also into vegan. The only exception is  that I can’t quite get used to apple sauce instead of yogurt or sour cream in some recipes.

​Knowing our grandchildren into adulthood is one of life’s great privileges.  My granddaughters’ dietary requirements created an interesting, delicious culinary journey within a journey for all of us, this visit.  But when I reflect, it’s also an excellent metaphor for the adventurous learning of new things for which they have become my eager scouts, guides & companions. 

After living in Grenada in for almost five years, we have learned to avoid Carnival. It's a bright, colorful and raucous celebration that is very crowded and festive. If you plan to travel to this region during that time, please be warned that it is hard to avoid.  Please enjoy some photos of the multi-day celebration.