On April 10, following the discussion at the University of West Indies, the DGI team hosted a culinary workshop and a community dinner.

Andris Brinkmanis held a master class on making spirulina pasta from scratch with their own hands for the DGI team and all the children and adults invited to the dinner.

A big dinner for friends and colleagues followed the workshop and consisted of both traditional Caribbean dishes and European cuisine. 

The idea of growing spirulina on the island — where the climate is perfect for low-cost, sun-based cultivation — has caught the interest of Vincentians from a variety of backgrounds. On our next visit, we plan to take more practical steps to begin growing it locally.

We also talked about how new foods have been introduced in different parts of the world at different times.

Alastair Parvin shared how potatoes didn’t initially appeal to the French — until they discovered how to make fries. In Germany, the story was different: the king declared potatoes a luxury food, forbidden to commoners. He planted a royal potato garden with guards, but told them to quietly allow curious visitors to take some tubers. Within a year, potatoes were growing everywhere.

Next time, we hope to bring anthropologists along to explore, together with local communities, the best ways to introduce spirulina to the Caribbean — in a meaningful and sustainable way.