Trinidadian cuisine

The Trinidadian cuisine is the cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago . Like Caribbean cuisine in general, it is shaped by a multitude of cultural influences.

Influences

As in general Caribbean cuisine, its origins go back to four influences: It is based on the kitchens of the European countries that have been colonizing since the end of the 15th century. These were substantially influenced by the eating habits of the African slaves who had been deported to the Caribbean since the 16th century . A marginal influence the kitchen has the original inhabitants of the Caribbean, the Arawaks and Caribs . Due to the geographical connection to the USA, the cuisine of the United States has had a noticeable influence on Caribbean cuisine in the last few decades , especially with regard to the spread of fast food . A fifth influence is specific to Trinidad: The large number of immigrant workers of Indian descent had a lasting influence on the food offerings on the islands.

Arawak and Caribs

The influence of the indigenous people of Trinidad on today's cuisine is marginal. They cultivated plants that still play an important role in nutrition today: in particular manioc and yams, but also corn, plantains, pumpkins, melons, papayas and chilies. They developed techniques to boil the poisonous glucosides from cassava and make it usable at all. The thickened juice of boiled manioc tubers is called cassareep and is still used today as an ingredient in the Pepperpot one- pot dish and for preserving meat. In addition, the Arawak and Caribs had a smoking technique called brabacot , which was named after the English word barbecue via the Spanish ( barbacao ) . Before the arrival of the Europeans, in contrast to all other Caribbean islands, there were deer on Trinidad , which supplemented the menu of the Arawak, but were exterminated by the whites.

Europeans

At the end of the 16th century, Spain was colonized. The Spanish settlers, cocoa and tobacco growers, introduced pears, beans, oranges, lemons and techniques for drying meat to the island and thus into the cuisine of Trinidad. The French, who had settled in large numbers since 1776, introduced numerous herbs, spices and their uses, such as chives, thyme, anise and basil. The settlement of the breadfruit tree , which William Bligh introduced to the Caribbean in 1793 and which was settled on the island in 1797 with the conquest of Trinidad by the British, goes back to the British colonial rulers . The British also introduced the tamarind , beets and cabbage, and the popularity of jam, which dates back to the British, has continued to this day.

slaves

Slavery was abolished in all British colonies in 1834. Before, the daily work on the plantations was primarily the responsibility of the slaves who had been brought in from West Africa. It was cheaper for the plantation owners to allow the slaves to self-suffice and to give them a small amount of land for this purpose. The slaves brought various fruits and vegetables, dishes and methods of preparation into the later Trinidadian cuisine. They cultivated z. B. peas, plantains, pumpkins, taro and corn. In contrast to all other Caribbean islands, the peanut was never able to establish itself as a food imported by slaves in Trinidad.

Indian contract workers

Due to the end of slavery, the cheapest possible replacement for the slaves was sought for the plantations that dominated the economy at that time and found in contract workers from British India . Starting in 1840, workers were recruited in large numbers who were committed to at least five years and were promised five acres of land. By the First World War, 145,000 Indian workers immigrated to Trinidad. In addition to the water buffalo , they introduced the curry as a preparation method in the Trinidadian cuisine, which still has a dominant position today. The Indian cookbook author Julie Sahni found that curries have become so anchored in Trinidadian cuisine that their Indian origin is no longer even known in many places in Trinidad.

Fast food

Most of the insular Caribbean states have a cultural connection to the former colonial powers. Trinidad has a very eventful history in this regard, but was under the rule of Great Britain from 1797 until independence in 1958. As a result, English established itself as the predominant language of the islands, which has been the official language since independence.
Due to the relative poverty, numerous Trinis have migrated since they became self-employed. The primary migration destination was English-speaking countries with high economic output due to language reasons, i.e. the USA, Canada and Great Britain. Through the family exchange between emigrants and those who stayed at home, the latter came into contact with the culture of the country of emigration; Due to the high number of emigrants, the culture of the emigration countries thus influenced the culture of Trinidad. Fast food emerged as a trend in the United States in the 1950s and subsequently spilled over to Trinidad.
The first fast food chain in Trinidad, Royal Castle , opened in 1968 and was not a branch of a US company, but a purely Trinidadian company with 27 branches and 300 employees today.

Traditional dishes

breakfast

Buljol , a fish salad , serves the Trinis' preference for hearty breakfasts. The Trinidadian breakfast classic is the doubles , a warm dish made from two flatbreads and some chickpea curry, which is bought and consumed in the morning at mobile food stalls or in takeaways. A traditional Sunday breakfast that is declining in popularity is pig foot souse , marinated and boiled pork feet in the form of a soup. Saheena are baked cookies made from cherry pea flour dough and dasheen leaves. A simpler variant without rolled up dasheen leaves, but with onions and leeks, is called katchourie .

Soups and stews

Breadfruit Oil-Down is a stew made from breadfruit and coconut milk that is also popular in Grenada and Barbados . The national dish of Trinidad is callaloo , a soup made from taro leaves, okra and coconut milk, which is often thickened by adding animal components to a stew. Eddoes Talkari is a simple stew made from root vegetables. The peculiarity of the rice dish Pelau is that the meat it contains is caramelized in sugar. Pepperpot is a stew that is common throughout the southern Caribbean and Guyana, the ingredients of which vary greatly from island to island and which goes back to the Arawak. Cassareep is one of the most important ingredients in Trinidad. It is popularly rumored that a pepper pot in private households is sometimes continuously renewed by eating it and then filling it up with new ingredients over days or weeks, but there is no evidence for this. Sancoche is a stew of peas, root vegetables and meat that goes back to the slaves and has roots in common with sancocho soup in Latin America, but is based on different ingredients.

Snack foods

Aloo Pie is a filled and fried dumpling pocket. Bake and Shark is a flatbread filled with marinated and deep-fried shark and is primarily associated with food stands on Maracas Beach. Geera Pork are small pieces of pork that are marinated in a spice mixture based on roasted cumin ( geera ) and then seared and cooked. Geera Pork is one of the cutters , spicy little snacks that are often served free of charge with drinks in bars to stimulate thirst. A legacy of the first Spanish settlers are the pastelles , tamales- like, filled bags made of corn dough, which are served wrapped in soharee or banana leaves and represent a traditional Christmas dinner. Pholourie , also known under various other spellings, are fried dough balls that are served with chutneys. The Roti is next to the Doubles the most popular snack dish in Trinidad. It consists of a curry wrapped in a thin flatbread and goes back to Indian immigrants.

Side dishes and sauces

Black pudding is a blood sausage originally made with pork blood, which is usually served as a side dish, e.g. B. on Pig foot souse. Coconut Bake is a slightly sweet bun that uses coconut milk and brown sugar and which, among other things, a. is served as an accompaniment to strongly spicy dishes. Green Seasoning , more rarely Chadon Beni Sauce , is a cold herb sauce. She is u. a. Part of the Bake and Shark, but is also used as a dip for z. B. Pholourie passed. The main ingredient of the spicy sauce is named after long coriander . Coo-Coo is a type of cornmeal pudding with okra . Hops are simple, soft buns. Kuchela is a relish based on unripe mangoes that is used as a side dish to curries and as a topping for snacks.

Desserts

A simple but widely used sweet is sugar cake , small cakes made from sugar and desiccated coconut. A classic dessert are toolums , small balls made from cane sugar, molasses and desiccated coconut, which go back to the African slaves.

beverages

The most popular alcoholic beverages are rum and beer; both are produced in the country. The largest producer of rum is Angostura Ltd., which also produces the seasoning Angostura bitter. The most famous brands are Old Oak and Vat 19 . Trinidad is one of the better known rum exporters. A Trinidadian specialty is Puncheon Rum , a variant of rum with 75 percent alcohol by volume. The largest brewery in the country, the Carib Brewery , largely limits its sales area to the southern Caribbean, where it occupies a dominant position. The beer types with the highest sales are Carib and Stag as well as Heineken, which is bottled under license . The Samba Brewing Company, which also operates internationally and exports to ten countries (including the USA and Canada), has a significantly lower sales volume.

In addition to globally known soft drinks, there are also some local brands available, the largest manufacturer being SM Jaleel . Mauby is a sweet, spicy soft drink made from tree bark extract. The roselle , called Sorrel , is used to make soft drinks and a mixed beer drink. A drink that is industrially bottled in cans or plastic bottles and also available freshly prepared at street stalls is Punch , a thick, high-sugar milk mix drink in a wide variety of flavors, from various types of fruit to peanuts to cartilage wrack .

Juice made from local or imported fruits makes up a significant part of the beverage offer and is drunk neat or as part of rum punches . In addition to imported orange and apple juice, juices made from soursop (the fruit of the prickly pear ) as well as guava, grapefruit, passion fruit and pineapple are common, available in most supermarkets . Coconut water is widely available in cans and is sold at street stalls in the form of freshly opened coconuts with straws.

Specific foods

There are no plants or animal species that are found exclusively in Trinidad and play a significant role in the nutrition of the population. However, there are numerous plants that are not grown outside of the Lesser Antilles or at least not used in national kitchens, but are an integral part of the cuisine in Trinidad. Due to the spatial proximity and the partly identical colonial history, there are overlaps with the kitchens of neighboring Caribbean islands and the cuisine of Guyana . There are three differences:

• Due to different colonial and immigration histories, the naming of plants differs from island to island, cf. Mauby .
• Due to the adaptation of recipes by immigrants and slaves to the local flora and fauna, original ingredients were replaced by different local ingredients, cf. Callaloo .
• After all, plants are used differently, cf. Taro , of which only the tubers are used in some places, but also the leaves in Trinidad.

Ground Provisions

The taro plant, called Dasheen in Trinidad , is used several times in the country's kitchen. The large, elephant-ear-shaped leaves are chopped up and used for the callaloo soup . The roots are cooked as a side dish or used as an ingredient in soups and stews. In general, root vegetables are very popular ingredients in Trinidad and are grouped under the name of ground provisions . In addition to Dasheen tubers ( Colocasia esculenta esculenta ), eddo ( Colocasia antiquorum ), cassava , tania ( Xanthosoma ) and sweet potatoes are available in supermarkets and street stalls.

As everywhere in the Caribbean, fruit plays an important role. Fruits that are not made into juice and are available in supermarkets or street vendors across the country and consumed as a snack may include: a. Chenette ( Melicoccus bijugatus ), golden plum and water apple .

Self-sufficiency still plays a significant role in rural Trinidad. Especially in the low mountain ranges there is not always suitable pastureland available, which is why wild animals represent a change in the menu. To be hunted u. a. Iguanas, armadillos ( tatoo called) and agoutis , fished u. a. the Cascadura, a river- dwelling catfish . Chip chip (Donax striatus) is a coastal clam that is used as an ingredient in curries.

gallery

• 

  Aloo Pie

• 

  Bake & Shark

• 

  Callaloo

• 

  Doubles

• 

  Green seasoning

• 

  Pelau

• 

  Philosophy

• 

  Roti

• 

  Carib

• 

  Drink of the flavor "cartilage wrack and flaxseed"

• 

  Mango malt beer

• 

  Mauby

• 

  Stag

literature

• Boissiere, Jean de: Cooking Creole: Suggestions on Making Creole Food. 1935.
• DeWitt, Dave & Wilan, Mary Jane: Callaloo, Calypso & Carnival. The Cuisines of Trinidad & Tobago. The Crossing Press, 1993.
• Ganeshram, Ramin: Sweet Hands. Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago. Hippocrene Books, 2nd edition 2010.
• The Multi-Cultural Cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago. Naparima Girls' High School Cookbook. 2nd edition, 2002.

Web links

• TriniGourmet.com - award-winning food blog
• SimplyTriniCooking.com - Foodblog

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dave DeWitt & Mary Jane Wilson: Callaloo, Calypso & Carnival, p. 22. The Crossing Press 1993
2. ^ Francisco Morales Padrón: Spanish Trinidad . Ian Randle Publishers, Kingston / Miami 2012, ISBN 978-976-637-616-1 , pp. 7 .
3. ↑ Dave DeWitt & Mary Jane Wilson: Callaloo, Calypso & Carnival, p. 23. The Crossing Press 1993
4. ↑ Dave DeWitt & Mary Jane Wilson: Callaloo, Calypso & Carnival, p. 23. The Crossing Press 1993
5. ↑ Dave DeWitt & Mary Jane Wilson: Callaloo, Calypso & Carnival, p. 24. The Crossing Press 1993
6. ↑ Los Angeles Times article, April 30, 1992, available online
7. ↑ Company homepage Royal Castle
8. ↑ Article about Puncheon Rum on UncommonCaribbean.com
9. ↑ Recipe on SimplyTriniCooking.com ( Memento of the original from September 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ Bladholm, Linda: Latin & Caribbean Grocery Stores Demystified 189. Renaissance Books., 2001
11. ↑ Article about Ground Provisions on Caribbeanpot.com