I Ate My Way Through Aruba-and Discovered a Culinary Revolution

"The Saturday market at STR Agriculture, a farm in the town of Noord, Aruba, didn't look like much at first. A few tables were set up on a concrete patio, while a metal awning adorned with tiny Aruban flags deflected the hot Caribbean sun from a modest produce selection-long pumpkins, bananas, and cucumbers grown in STR's greenhouses. But as I walked between the vendors, it all came to life."

"I met a German man advertising cheesecakes layered with black-cherry jam and a woman from the Canary Islands who sold me a jar of mojo rojo-a spicy, oily red-pepper sauce. A stand labeled "Dr. Green" offered fresh lemonade and poffertjes, small pancake puffs from the Netherlands. Next to this was an unattended cooler filled with chicken-curry roti rolls. Such a medley shouldn't be surprising, given that Aruba is one of the Caribbean's most ethnically diverse islands."

A modest Saturday market at STR Agriculture in Noord offers an eclectic mix of local produce and international flavors, from pumpkins and greenhouse cucumbers to cheesecakes, mojo rojo, poffertjes, and chicken-curry roti rolls. Aruba hosts multiple languages—Dutch, English, Spanish, and Papiamento—and welcomes millions of visitors, shaping a diverse culinary landscape. Chef Urvin Croes embodies that diversity through Venezuelan, German, Chinese, and Aruban ancestry, studies in Italy, and seven years at a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Netherlands. He returned to Aruba to open restaurants including Caya and Infini; Infini's eight-course menu features dishes such as crispy Peking quail.

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