Trinidad Food: Doubles, Shark and Bake, Angostura Bitters, Pan Yard Visits, and the New Port of Spain Kitchen
The food culture of Trinidad is the most ethnically diverse in the Caribbean, centered on the beloved doubles street food, the Maracas Bay shark and bake pilgrimage, the Angostura Bitters that stock the world's bars, and the emerging contemporary Trinidad cuisine of the Ariapita Avenue restaurant strip.
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Trinidad Food: The Most Diverse in the Caribbean
The Trinidad food culture, reflecting the multicultural population of African, Indian, Chinese, Syrian Lebanese, Portuguese, and European origins, is the most ethnically diverse cuisine in the Caribbean, encompassing the Indian doubles of bara and channa, the Chinese dim sum of the Port of Spain bakeries, the Creole cook-up rice, the pelau rice and beans, and the fresh produce of the Arima and Chaguanas markets that provide the raw material for a kitchen of extraordinary variety.
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Doubles: The Street Food of Trinidad
Doubles, the Trinidad street food of two fried bara bread rounds filled with curried channa chickpeas and the full complement of condiments including the shadow beni herb sauce, the cucumber, the mango pepper sauce, and the coconut chutney, is the most beloved street food in the Caribbean and the food most identified with the Indian contribution to the Trinidad culinary tradition. The doubles vendor at 5am on Henry Street in Port of Spain is the defining Trinidad food experience.
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Bake and Shark vs Shark and Bake: The Maracas Debate
The distinction between the bake and shark preparation at different Maracas Bay stalls, where Richard's Bake and Shark and Natalie's compete for the title of the finest version of the same dish with the fried shark fillet in the fried bake bread with the specific combination of condiments that each stall claims as superior, is one of the most passionately argued food debates in Trinidad and the subject of the most animated mealtime conversation that the visitor can join.
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Rum Punch and Carib Beer: Trini Drinking Culture
The Trinidad drinking culture combines the rum punch, prepared with the local Angostura Bitters that are manufactured in Port of Spain and are one of the most globally distributed cocktail ingredients in the world, the Carib Beer, and the sorrel, the hibiscus flower infusion that is the traditional Christmas drink of the Trinidad household. The Angostura Aromatic Bitters, available in virtually every bar in the world, originate from the distillery on the Port of Spain waterfront.
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Pan Yard Visits: The Rehearsal Culture
The pan yard rehearsals of the Port of Spain steel orchestras in the weeks before Carnival, when the large orchestras of 100 or more panists practice the Panorama competition arrangement deep into the night in the community pan yards of East Port of Spain, Laventille, and the Savannah surrounds, are open to visitors who want to experience the concentrated musical culture of the steelpan tradition in its community practice rather than the competition performance context.
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Dining in Port of Spain: Malabar, Staubles, and the New Kitchen
The dining scene of Port of Spain has developed significantly in the past decade with a generation of Trinidad chefs who apply international technique to the extraordinary raw material of the Trinidad culinary diversity, creating a contemporary Trinidad cuisine of considerable sophistication in the restaurants of the upper Long Circular Road and the Ariapita Avenue food and bar strip that is the primary dining circuit of the capital.