Roadside corn 9780230038578.indd 20 25/07/2011 13:08
Snacks and Indian delicacies Snacking is a popular pastime here in Trinidad and Tobago – that’s because we love to ‘lime’, or get together, with friends and family for a good time. No lime is complete without food and drink. But our love of snacking goes beyond liming. We, as a nation, are in love with food. Who can blame us? There is always something delicious waiting to be consumed around the corner! The number-one snack food item is our East Indian treat, doubles (a spicy curried channa filling coddled between two pieces of fried flavoured dough, bara). This has become so popular that, with other Indian delicacies, it is now a mainstay of our culinary culture. Although most of the Indian foods available in Trinidad and Tobago were inspired by our Indian ancestors, I’d say doubles is an invention all our own! It’s Trinidadian street food as opposed to Trinidadian Indian food. Any and every Trini can be caught enjoying a doubles at some time. Any visit to Trinidad would be incomplete until you have tried doubles and some of the other Indian delicacies offered for sale by these vendors. Pies are also a popular snack item. Also called turnovers, we enjoy them filled with fish, beef, chow mein vegetables and potato. Pie vendors sell from shops or on foot with their home-made goodies in their food baskets. Other delightful appetizers include crab backs, shrimp cocktail, curry crab stuffed dumplings, boiled and roast corn, wontons and arepas – to name just a few. We also love lip-puckering delights, such as our souses. Even our mango chow, a salsa made with green mangoes and seasonings of vinegar, pepper, salt and garlic, is so popular that vendors sell it at traffic intersections! Other popular snack items are crispy fried channa and peanuts. Baked peanuts, skin on, are sold by roadside vendors, mostly in Port of Spain, and by vendors on foot at busy intersections. They are also sold at sporting events, especially cricket matches – where some vendors throw their packaged nuts up into the stands even before receiving payment! Country cricket match Whether it’s a beach lime, a cricket lime, or just a house gathering, Trinis snack from sunup to sundown, and you are sure to enjoy any of the addictive bites contained in this section. 9780230038578.indd 21 25/07/2011 13:09