Swimming in a sea of myths

MYTH: The food is one-dimensional — how many ways can you make rice and beans? REALITY: The answer: in as many ways as there have been waves of Indian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Chinese, Arawak, Taino, and African migration. While almost anything you care to eat is available (even corned beef), ethnic preparations of local ingredients are the foods of place. Try pelau, a French-inspired stew of chicken or beef with rice, pigeon peas, pumpkin, brown sugar, onions, and garlic; African callaloo, a spinach soup; Amerindian pepperpot, a meat stew spiced with cinnamon, hot pepper, and cassareep; and local beach treats like Trinidad’s Bake ’n’ Shark, a johnnycake filled with deep-fried shark meat dressed with tamarind or chadon bene chutney.
Photo courtesy of Jim Stephens

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MYTH: The food is one-dimensional — how many ways can you make rice and beans?

REALITY: The answer: in as many ways as there have been waves of Indian, Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, Chinese, Arawak, Taino, and African migration. While almost anything you care to eat is available (even corned beef), ethnic preparations of local ingredients are the foods of place. Try pelau, a French-inspired stew of chicken or beef with rice, pigeon peas, pumpkin, brown sugar, onions, and garlic; African callaloo, a spinach soup; Amerindian pepperpot, a meat stew spiced with cinnamon, hot pepper, and cassareep; and local beach treats like Trinidad’s Bake ’n’ Shark, a johnnycake filled with deep-fried shark meat dressed with tamarind or chadon bene chutney.