A Taste of Trinidad

Sampling Food in Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands that make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. Though part of the South American continent, it is often referred to as the southernmost island of the Caribbean. It is also the fifth largest in the West Indies. Caribs and Arawaks lived in Trinidad long before Christopher Columbus came across the islands in 1498. Trinidad remained Spanish until 1797, but was largely settled by French colonists from the French Caribbean. In 1889 Trinidad and Tobago became a single British Crown Colony. They obtained self-governance in 1958 and independence from the United Kingdom in 1962. 

Trinidad is not renowned for its tourism. Unlike most of the English-speaking Caribbean, the country's economy is primarily industrial, with an emphasis on petroleum and petrochemicals. The country's wealth is attributed to its large reserves and exploitation of oil and natural gas. It has an almost 'American' feel about it with American chain restaurants and air conditioned shopping malls. Whilst on the island we were, however, keen to see what it had to offer. A tour that came highly recommended to us was 'A Taste of Trinidad'. Trinidad is a multi-cultural island and the food available is influenced by many different styles, such as East Indian, European, Spanish, Arab, Portugese, African, Chinese, Jewish and Amerindian. 

Our guide, Jesse James, picked us up at 9am in his air conditioned minivan. His mission was to get us to sample as many different types of Trinidadian cuisine as we could by the time he dropped us back off at 7pm. He basically drove us around the island stopping at as many street food stalls as he could so we could get a true authentic taste of what Trinidadians eat. 

At our first stop, we sampled a few breakfast items: Fry bake, salt fish, smoked herring and chicken liver. And our last stop we sampled fish, jerk pork, BBQ pork, macaroni salad and lentils.

Below is listed everything else we tried in between:

Cheesy potato pie 

Trini beef pie

Sara Roti and Baigan Choka

Bitter Gourd

Cow heel soup (definitely not a favourite with Steve!)

Beef pie - pastry

Chicken pie - pastry

Fish pie - pastry

Coconut bake

Chenet

Doubles

Saheena (Sahina)

Kachori

Pomerac

BBQ pigtails (yet again, not a favourite)

Macaroni pie

Goat curry

Green fig

Cassava

Goolab Jamoon

Pickled red mango

Pickled star fruit

Pickled Pommecythere Kuchela

Sparkling Sorrell juice

Sparkling Mauby juice

Roast corn

Mango anchor

Bari

Kurma

Coconut finger

Fruit cake

Bread pudding

Coconut rock cake

Star fruit

Brazil nuts

Chickyote (baby) banana

Soursop

Pholourie balls

Geera chicken

Chicken feet souse (both of us passed on this one!)

Pork cutters

BBQ chicken

Cocoa pod seeds

Tamarind balls

Toolum

Locally made ice cream in peanut, vanilla, soursop and chocolate flavours

Thank you to Russ and Anne from yacht Enterprise for keeping a list of everything we sampled. 

By the time we got back onboard Aztec Dream we could hardly move, and neither of us felt like eating breakfast the following morning!!

Our host preparing the food

Breakfast - fry bake, salt fish, herring and chicken liver

Our host preparing the second dish of the day

Yet another course, including macaroni pie and goat curry

The 'Doubles' and 'Sahina' van

Doubles

Pork cutters

Pilau rice

Pickled fruit stall

Geera chicken and green fig

So much choice

This bird will chase you if you get too close!

A beach on the wilder Atlantic coast

Fresh water melon

Cup of chickens feet anyone?

No, we weren't brave enough!

Nor brave enough for chicken gizzards!

The final meal of the day

To follow - a little more on Trinidad, our passage to Tobago, and ongoing preparations for the start of the Nereids Rally on the 5th September.