Hi All, we're leaving for our second trip to Bonaire in April and had a question about bringing food to Bonaire. On our first trip we found the grocery stores in Bonaire a bit lacking and we were thinking of bringing a suitcase of some basic snacks and breakfast food with us to Bonaire. Does anyone know what the rules are about bringing food in? Are their restrictions on dairy or fruit etc. Will this be a big hassle?

Thanks.

Kevin, I am not sure on the laws but truly, Bonaire has wonderful dairy products in way of cheeses. Of course you are not bringing milks and perishables so I assume you mean cheese? Fruit, well More For Less has great choices for berries from Quito area. All the other stores are hit and miss but I have gotten some lovely Gala apples at Cultimara, super limes at Tera Cora Fruitaria, nice veggies at La Portuguesa to name a few. I would agree bringing some other non perishables is prudent: power bars, rice cakes, special cereals etc...

Actually I doubt we'd bring any dairy or fruit except for the flight. I was more thinking of boxed cereal, crackers, chips etc.

Kevin H,

In my checked "hard-side" luggage I bring dry goods into Bonaire. I also ask the resort mgr to stock the frig with a 1/2 gal milk and a 2 liter bottle of diet coke for our fist night. That tides us over until we can get to the grocery store the next morning. The diet coke is for our 1st adult beverage of the evening and the milk is for cereal the next morning.

For example, I bring crystal lite teas, individual packaged cookies and crackers, pringles, cheetos in a can, coffee and a dry packaged pancake mix that all you need to add is water. Leave the really cheap foods at home and pick them up in Bonaire, example pasta.....don't waste your weight allowance. If you eat bagels bring them in your luggage because you won't find them in Bonaire. Bonaire has, imho, the best breads.

In my carry on that goes under my seat, I have a pre-sliced 3 or 4 lb turkey ham for sandwiches. The turkey ham has been frozen for a min of 72 hours. It has never completely thawed out while traveling down...knock on wood...I've never been delayed in my travels either. I've even carried down frozen thick sliced bacon.

You don't say what day you are traveling. I try to travel on WED on the way down because the food container ships from the US come in on Thursday/Friday and by Sat evening a lot of the "American" is gone.

I hope this info helps!

Yana

Kevin H,
Boy, am I having trouble posting today!! The last line should read:
I try to travel on Wed's on the way down to Bonaire because the food container ships from the US come in on Thursday/Friday and by Sat evening a lot of the "American" FOOD is gone.

Kevin, we have been going to Bonaire for 13 years and used to pack a lot of stuff. This year we took coffee, 1 box of oat meal, coffee filters, tea bags, and some spices in small quatities. You can buy very good produce on the Island including fruit and vegetables. The bread and cheese is the best I've eaten and there is a very wide assortment of beverages both Adult and Other. For a 3 week stay we cook 2-3 dinners on site and all breakfasts. Lunches vary depending on the days activities.

Maybe I'm just used to living here, but I can't think of very many things that I like that I can't buy here. I have a list (udon noodles, soba noodles, rice cakes, Kellogg's brand Raisin Bran, Folgers coffee), but there just aren't enough things on it that I could imagine feeling compelled to pack my luggage full of it. Yana girl's list is completely made up of items that I can buy locally (except the Cheeto supply might be a bit unreliable). What are you bringing?

Mostly Trader Joe's items (pretty much my only grocery store). Breakfast cereal is about 1/2 the price of name brands. Also, sports drink mix, energy bars, pasta, coffee, flax seed chips, crackers, salsa, I could go on. I guess I found the supermarkets in Bonaire fairly expensive and spotty in selection when we were their last. Now for meat I'm just going to get the mixed grill at Casablanca's and eat that for the whole trip =)

Yana ~ thanks so much for posting with regards to delivery of items. We noticed that there was a difference in American items by day at Cultimara but didn't know the reason why. So cool to be in the know now - thanks a bunch!

Tribs,
You are welcome!

Kevin H,
I agree with Kevin W W @ TGE. Most of the items I listed I can get in Bonaire....but there have been times when I have been on the island and a container ship has missed delivering goods. This has happened 2 times to me since June 2000. So the "be prepared" motto kicks in. I have a "backup" of my own comfort foods. I really have not been able to find my hickory smoked thick sliced bacon. I do go to the local butcher shops and pick up beef & pork to cook. I eat all of my breakfasts and lunches at the place where I stay and will eat out at night 50% of the time. I usually travel down to Bonaire for at least 12 days and the max 21 days, 3 times a year.

Yana

I keep a stash of folgers coffee. It is probably the one thing I can't really live without!

Michael,
I'll add to your stash in June!
Yana

I always bring extra goodies when I travel, tuna in pouches, crackers, granola bars, peanut butter, trail mix....all the necessities of life!

Elizabeth, try the Dutch brands for peanut butter sometime..really good.

Anything is good on the awesome bread from Cultimara!

If anyone is headed for Bonaire, Michael would be more than pleased if you were to present him with some Folgers Red coffee! LOL. He likes the brick square pack, I believe.....if Folger's keeps him as sweet as he is, then we should bombard him with it when we can! Hugs, Carole

PS Michael, you know I'm only teasing you. cb

I'm stocking up on my Folger's to bring for Michael, he's got me addicted to it too!
Such an easy thing to make such a nice man happy!

During my last visit in January, I noticed that Flamingo Market near NAPA appeared to have more American brand foods than other stores. In fact it was the only place I found Baking Soda.

Gosh bringing food with you seems like extra trouble.

Speaking of groceries does anyone know of a grocery store that refrigerates eggs. Seeing eggs out in the open was rather disconcerting to us ans well as I imagine lots of travelers from the USA.

I don't know of a store that refrigerates them. We buy them wholesale, and they aren't brought to us in a refrigerated truck, so I don't think they are refrigerated on the way to a store, either. We stick them in the fridge, but there isn't much of a point doing it in a store: most of them only keep about a two day stock, anyway.

BTW, I'll gladly take any Folgers that anyone cares to bring me.

We take a few things with us: such as oatmeal, tea, coffee, the packets that go in the 20 oz water bottles to make a flavored drink, energy bars, dried fruit mix, peanut and cheese crackers (the kind that are already on crackers and come in packages of six) otherwise we get everything else on island. It is a great adventure seeing what you can find. The bread at Cultimara is the best you will ever eat, all kinds to choose from. You really don't need a separate bag for these things, just get them in individual packages and stick things in and among your dive gear and in your other luggage.

We make our lunches on site with our favorite roast beef that we bring with us. I have the meat cut thin and put in 1 lb plastic packs. I then rap them in newspaper and freeze same. Put them in with our Dive gear and waalla... Ron

Wayne...those are fighting words!!!!

C'mon, Michael. I'll brew it for you at 3 guilders a cup. That way, you get coffee, I get coffee and money. Sounds pretty fair to me.

Nobody ever refrigerated eggs when I was a lad, and none of us died from eating them. They weren't refrigerated when they were in the store for sale either. In fact, eggs need to be warmed up for cleaning before they are sold.

three guilders!!! If you stop in, I will give you a cup for free....

Kevin,
We just got back from Bonaire (last night); I just scanned the responses above, and didn't actually see the answer to your last question (although I may have missed it!): "Does anyone know what the rules are about bringing food in? Are their restrictions on dairy or fruit etc. Will this be a big hassle?"
No, there will be NO hassle to actually bring ANY food item you want for your own consumption; including meat, fruits,dairy, or veggies.

Kevin bring what you want to eat. Canned goods are best. One of Bonaires' Best East Coast Guides loves cashews. Each trip you'll learn what to bring. Every trip I bring more food and less clothes. Have meet many people who even keep their dive equipment on Bonaire. Those are the smart ones. MOntego Bay is great for Duty Free Liquor. Makes using AJ worth it.

If you are only on Bonaire for a week or two, you should bring those items you can't live without. You don't want to spend all day running from one store to the next trying to find a certain product. If you spend more than a month there, eventually you can get everything - then you stock up and empty the shelves!

problem that we found when we were there the 1st of march store shelves were empty,, we have been going for over 10 years and we bring a small 12 pack cooler and inside you will find luncheon meat,spag sauce or spag chicken, 2 hamburger patties, sliced cheese for sandwichs, bacon or breakfast meat, all frozen solid and put in cooler and then in check in suitcase, we have never had a problem and have to go out the first night because everything is still frozen.. in another box is cereal, cookies, small bags of chips, koolaid, powder sports drinks, candy, couple of peices of fruit, cereal bars, I almost did not do anythigng this year and so glad we did the shelves were empty, saw lots of the same people at the different stores looking for small sizes of sliced cheese there was no luncheon meats, no yogurts, no fruits except for grapes and some apples, one day and gone the next, no oranges, never could find lettuce, no diet pepsi products, I've never had a problem carrying food frozen or not, a liquor box goes into a duffle bag with no problem with the cooler then yoiu can have the cooler for during the day when you pack and go out on your dives.. also keep your empty water bottles and freeze your sports drinks or koolaids keeps everything cold and taste great after a dive.. one of our favorite lunches is sliced cheese, crackers, summer sausage, sliced apples, a orange sitting on the back of a tail gate looking out over the ocean after a great dive in Bonaire ( man I've got to stop I'm about to cry it's only been 2 weeks since we left and I'm ready to go back)

I am still amazed that folks still brng food to Bonaire. We have just about everything mentioned in all the posts(execpt folgers coffee and fresh NY Bagels) albeit not all the time and maybe a bit more expensive that your home country. You also take a chance of delayed luggage. I have a horror story of one pound of chopped liver and nova belly lox! Yuk!

Hold the "fruity" bagels, tho, right Michael! LOL. Carole

Tainted chopped liver and lox?? Bad stuff to mess with....ouch!

speaking of fruity bagels...there is a certain permanent resident of Bonaire that has asked me several times for CRANBERRY bagels. Has anyone ever been able to bring these to him? I have nearly been thrown out of several bagel shops in NYC asking for such an item...

Cranberry indeed! My grandmoher would have a fit.....

SALMON TALK
If you ask for Lox in a NYC Deli, you will probably be offered something that could technically be described as Nova, in that it is cold smoked salmon, meaning it was smoked at 70 to 90F for between one day and three weeks. But Lox is a brine soaked cold smoked salmon, making it incredibly salty, which ends up turning off a lot of people who are allowed to buy lox by deli men who should know to stop them. Some lox does have sugar added to the brine, which makes it less salty.
So if the idea of a delicious salt bagel turns you off, don't even consider asking for lox in NYC, go with the Nova. Nova generally refers to cold smoked salmon as well, but to a much less salty version.

I'd rather go for the chopped herring salad myself.

Michael, next time your in NYC I'll be glad to drag you down to Katz's, or up to Zabars, Citarellas, or Fairway. No more 2nd ave. deli, I'm afraid, but The Stage Door Deli(I think they call it,) in midtown is pretty good.

I don't think you'll find cranberry bagels on this side of the Rockies Sue. I would say one has to start at the left side of the country for that. Was that a blonde man Sue? ;-)

Now don't hok me a tchynik or I'll lump youse in with the alter kockers.

Anyone needing a translation for Seb's last line needs to go to the Edison Cafe, aka the Polish Tea Room, in midtown Manhattan.
Or, for a smile, I'll translate.

Mare

seb - maybe you can explain the allure of a chubb and how one eats it. the midtown deli where I get lunch most days has them lying around the case and they look like they've been dead a very long time and are quite dehydrated. I've never heard anyone every order one.

Too arcane for me, Sue, but I'll ask the alter kockers at the tearoom next time I'm in.
And just where DO you eat lunch in midtown, you transplanted terrapin?

All my NY deli stuff comes from Zabars...hope for a care package in a few weeks....

seb - I work in the Chrysler Center & typically get lunch (salad bar stuff) at a deli at 41st/Lex or the D'Agatino's at 38th/3rd. If the weather's lousy, it's Jane's Deli in the building...however their most recent NYC health dept review is less than appetizing...

http://63.106.144.9/RI/web/detail.do?restaurantId=41007919&inspectionDate=2005-10-13&method=detail

if you haven't checked out your local NYC eateries, you must check out this website:

http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/rii/index.shtml

I also see too many chubbs in the Kings' Supermarkets here in NJ!

Mare got a smile, but I don't see that she ever translated: "Don't chop me a teakettle, or I'll lump you in with the old sh*ters." That's the literal English, but you may need another translation of that.

David

Oh my! I got busy.

Seb said

---

quote:

Now don't hok me a tchynik or I'll lump youse in with the alter kockers

---

I'll be moving to bonaire this summer, and I don't think this issue was addressed....

If you have foods shipped to you, are they subject to customs tax?

I'm used to shopping at whole foods market here in FL, and I don't think I can get by without brown rice and whole wheat pasta!

I was there just last week, visited a few grocery stores and didn't see these things (nor did i really expect to).

anyone know if food items are tax-exempt?

Jenny, I find brown rice and pasta here..Tropical Flamingo has brown pasta. It's not one stop shopping here..specialty items we all bring down..easy peasy...oh by the way, I bring lots of goodies down in my suitcase that is for my personal consumption and have not been charged.

We always bring a box of food we check on the plane. We love Bonaire but we hate the food. Mostly we bring snack stuff to take to divesites with us that the stores dont carry--granola bars, crackers, cookies, cereal. The best thing we have done is collect the small packets of mustard, ketchup, sugar, mayo, salsa, whatever a few months beforehand so we dont have to buy a whole jar there. We have had bad experiences with "refrigerated" items that were so bad we refuse to buy anything in the "cooler" anymore. I guess standards in Bonaire are different than in the US! I am a picky eater too, so we just take our own breakfast and lunch items, except for the bread, and eat out every night. WE DO LOVE THE RESTAURANTS THOUGH!!!!!

Jenny,

I believe the answer to your question about shipping food in is that you would have to pay duty. Bringing in your own is generally free.

Perhaps there is a definite answer on InfoBonaire (http://www.infobonaire.com/), or an islander may answer here.

Annie may have sources for you on island.

i'm hoping to lose about 10 or 15 pounds once I move there... so I guess I should just get used to eating what is available.

The bread at Cultimara is excellent & last time I was there I got to treat myself to Peter Pan peanut butter (I usually eat the all natural stuff). I had a hard time finding jelly and non-instant coffee, but found the Doubele (whatever) at Cultimara and the jelly at the grocery by the stadium. I thought it was interesting that the milk was from Miami.

but, yes Meredith, the restaurants are very good!

As of my last visit, my personal favorites...

The Lost Penguin - breakfast or lunch
Rumrunners - lunch
Salsa - dinner
The Lions Den - dinner

Anyone know why they call mahi mahi (dolphin fish) "dorado" in Bonaire? This was very confusing, as I thought I was eating a type of fish I'd never had before.

dradu is is the Papiamentu name. Mula is Tuna, picaditu is baracudda, Gutu is parrot fish, mulato is wahoo, etc...

Hi
I believe Mahi Mahi is the Hawaiian name for Dolphin, while Dorado (golden) is the Spanish name. The fish is undoubtedly known by other names elsewhere.
Mick

Michael, do you have that book on Papiamentu in your store?

We travel the Caribbean/Mexico area at least twice a year and always bring staples with us as we are often worn out by the time we arrive and don't want to have to worry about trying to get to the grocery store the first night. Also on some islands, like the Caymans, the grocery stores are not open on Sundays, so if you arrive late on Saturday, you're out of luck for major grocery items until Monday. Things can often be very expensive in the islands,in short supply, or unavailable altogether, as previously noted. We don't bring meat or dairy (I bring one container of Parmalat milk for starters) but I know many people do by freezing things in advance. I do think most countries (including the US) have regulations about bringing in fresh fruits and vegetables as well as unprocessed meat, so I would stay away from those items. We simply put the stuff in a small suitcase that we check thru as part of our luggage (we usually cut the clothes down to one suitcase each so we are always under our two bags-per-person checked luggage allowance). The suitcase also can fit in the top portion of our two-level duffle so we can consolidate luggage on the return trip if we want. We also have a collapsible duffle that zips down to a small size ($10 at Walmart) that we can use as our 4th piece of luggage if necessary, either packed with additional items on our way down or with things we buy while on vacation for the return. It too can be consolidated in our other luggage. We don't find it a big deal to bring the food but if bringing food requires you to go over-weight or exceed your baggage allowance then you might want to rethink it. With what the airlines now charge for extra weight or baggage you'd negate any cost savings over what you'd pay in the islands.

A friend of mine recently traveled to St. Maarten and was told by the custom agent checking her luggage that she was the first person he had ever encountered that brought her blender on vacation. Tells you where her vacation priorities are!

Does anyone know what time the various grocery stores open on Saturday? We come in this Saturday on the 5:30 am flight from Houston, and will want to get food before Monday. Places are closed Sunday, right?

Martha, Warehouse opens at 8AM M-Sat. Closed on Sundays. Cultimara closes at noon on Sundays. Don't know what time they open, or the hours of the other stores (More for Less, Tropicana, the store by Sand$). Hopefully someone local will know.

Hi Martha,

I am looking at a Bonaire Update flyer and it has Cultimara open from 8am to 2pm on Sundays. GH is right about the Warehouse, it's closed on Sundays.
More for Less is open on Sunday from 9am to 1:00pm.

Thanks Debbie. I guess it's the shops in town that close at noon on Sunday's...right?

Now, that one I am not sure about. I will be happy to report back on that one when I go in November!

Well Debbie, I am having a major brain hiccup (more like a brain fart) today...This is what it says on the infobonaire page:

---

quote:

Most stores are open Monday through Saturday from between 8 or 9 AM until 12 noon when they close for one to two hours, then remain open until 6 PM. Hours vary widely and some stay open during lunch hour. The larger supermarkets are open from 7:30 or 8 AM until 7 PM (may close during lunch) and some may be open on Sundays from 11 AM to 2 PM

---