IMAGE – JAMES ENJOYING TRINI FOOD
On WORLD FOOD DAY - 16th October, rather than slaving away in the heat on the boat -what better thing to do than to do a’ Taste of Trinidad’ Day Tour -to taste local food items whilst touring the island . Jessie – a well known (knife and fork Indian) foodoholic was our guide and driver for the day. In a van with 10 other yachties from around the world we set off at 9am from the boatyards. The driving tour of the island initially took us from west to east. Meandering through many of the little local fishing villages and on into the back streets of Port of Spain.... by this time we had tasted 7 items of typical Creole and West Indian breakfast, and some freshly squeezed and chilled cane juice. Then it was further west on and off the main highway passing through and popping into many of the towns and villages, for many more ( approx 23 )mid morning tasty snacks and local fruits, then south and west to the Atlantic Coast, for our Roti picnic lunch stop, where we had 11 different items to try. We enjoyed a walk along Manzanilla Beach to stretch our legs and rest our stomachs. Then we headed back west, grazing (approx 17 items) all the way on locally made sweets and fresh fruits through the local roads up into the central mountains, through the famous Le Vega cocoa estate and past the Nariva swamp and wetlands area, before returning to Port of Spain for dinner (we shared 5 different items) from one of the local restaurants on Ariapita Avenue aka TT food and limin’ street. Full of food and enjoyment from a great day out, at approx 8pm we stopped on the waterfront boardwalk at Chaguaramas for (2 different choices) of ice-cream!! We had a wonderful day – with Jessie chatting away giving us historical, cultural, political and all manner of information and chatting throughout the day, whilst he pulled off the road at various stalls or popped into back streets to find freshly baked and prepared goodies. At every village and stop we tried different Indian- west and east, Chinese, African, Creole foods (65 in total for the day) and met and talked with many of the stall holders and shop owners.
Creole Breakfast:-Roast Bake (crusty bread) with 3 different toppings - Smoked Herring; Buljoh (local name) and Saltfish
Fresh chilled Cane Juice
West Indian Breakfast:- ‘Doubles’ – 2 mini rounds of light dough bread with saffron, fried and light and fluffy with a curried chickpea filling – topped with Pepper Sauce and /or Mango Sauce
Mid-morning snacks: - Sada Roti light pita bread) filled with Tomato Choka and or Fried Okra;
Hot Cow Heel Soup – with green Fig (like banana) and small dumplings;
Sada Roti filled with Caralli (a very sour local vegetable);
PakChoy – cooked with onions;
Accki (Saltfish) in flour dough;
Pommceteye (fruit) – also called - Island Apple;
Passionfruit;
Potato Pie;
Fried Plantain;
Pigtails – boiled and BBQed and topped with sauce;
BBQ Chicken;
Pelau – (a Creole dish of Chicken with rice, peas and coconut;
Caramel chicken and slow cooked in coconut milk;
Macaroni Pie – with broccoli;
Stewed Pork with ginger;
Brazil Nuts – amazingly fresh from the largest, ugliest pod I have ever seen!
Ramubtan fruit (Lycee);
Silk fig – (small banana);
Fig (local name of small banana) – thin skinned small fat sweet banana;
Saheena – (Callao);
Katchorie – Chickpea flour ball – split open and topped with a spiced tomato sauce;
Portugal – local tangerine;
Chictoe – a local type of banana;

Roti picnic Lunch- 2 types of bread – Dahl and Parata (locally called Bust-up)
Fillings of Stewed Beef; Curry Goat; Chicken gizzards; creamed pumpkin; roast eggplant
Drinks of chilled Sorrel; Passionfruit and Peanut punch
Fresh Pineapple – prepared by Jessie by peeling and dicing the pineapple and adding Salt & Pepper, garlic, lime juice, chopped Shadow Beni and a small yellow pepper.

Afternoon Grazing:-Watermelon; Polouries; Hazelnut chocolate; Pickled Pomceteye;
Chinese chicken; Raw coco seeds; Grapefruit;

Variety of local cakes: Cassava Pone; Coconut Tart; Coconut Ballerina (coconut soaked in red food colouring) Sweet Bread; Sweet Potato Cake; Bread Pudding

Variety of local sweets: Tullum; Tamarind Ball; Barfie & Kurma (both Indian sweets)

Dinner from Sweet Lime Restaurant on Ariapita Avenue - Port of Spain.
Green Fig Salad; Cassava (veg); Stewed Fish; Jerk Pork; Grilled Lamb;

Ice-cream: Cherry Vanilla; Peanut – in a cone stamped TRINIDAD