Tobagonian); and 22.8% Mixed. “Others” account for 1.4% and “Unspecified” is approximately 6.2% (3). The central counties have large concentrations of East Indians.


The climate of Trinidad is tropical with a dry season from January to May and rainy season from June


to December, with overlapping periods. Most of the food is imported, even though 86.3% of the island is considered rural. The two major urban centers of Trinidad are the capital city, Port of Spain, in the northwest of the island, and San Fernando, in the southwest. Given the country’s oil reserves, the general income level is high and food insecurity is principally due to maldistribution. Sedentary lifestyles have contributed to obesity and related chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) data indicate that NCDs account for 80% of total deaths, with the three top conditions being cardiovascular diseases (32%), cancers (16%), and diabetes (14%) (4). Obesity is on the rise, and data indicate that 23% of primary school age children and 25% of secondary students are obese, while 14% of children are underweight (5). Iron deficiency anemia among pregnant women and children is still of concern (6).


Trinidad and Tobago is a multiethnic, multireligious, and multicultural country, which is reflected in the various dishes served, holidays celebrated, and cultural garments worn. The food culture is a blend of Amerindian, European, East Indian, African, and to a lesser extent, Lebanese tastes (7). A term for the cooking method is Creole, referring to spicy and highly flavored foods, with the three dominant influences being African ancestry (influenced by colonialism and slavery), East Indian cuisine, and Chinese Cantonese cooking. Trinidadians and Tobagonians have become accustomed to merging food practices as one group adopts or adapts practices from other groups.


The African and slavery plantation influences on the cuisine of Trinidad and Tobago are similar to those found in the other Commonwealth Caribbean countries in the use of ground roots and tubers (called provisions) and cornmeal as staple foods. Provisions include white potato (called English potato), dasheen, and plantain (green and ripe). In Trinidad, green plantain is pounded and fried with salt added. Also eaten are eddoe (similar to dasheen, known in the United States as taro root, but smaller); tannia (similar to eddoe, but one end is more elongated); topi tambu (similar to white potato but small and round); sweet potato; yam; green banana (fig); breadfruit; and cassava. Cassava is eaten boiled, grated, and cooked as farine (resembles cream of wheat), as cassava bread, and in porridges with milk and sugar. An African traditional dish that is a native meal of Tobago is cassava foofoo (or fufu), a dish made with boiled starchy root vegetables or tubers, in this case cassava, pounded into a thick paste. Coocoo is cornmeal similar to turned cornmeal and eaten with green vegetables such as dasheen leaves and ochro (okra). Callaloo is a national dish made with dasheen leaves, okra, crab and/or salt meat and onions, pimento peppers, hot pepper, green onions, and thyme cooked low in coconut milk (8). A popular dish, especially at Christmas, is savory pastelle (flattened cornmeal dough, stuffed with minced meat or vegetables, steamed in a banana or plantain leaf) or the sweet version called paime (pastelle with raisins, coconut, and sugar added). In Tobago, cornmeal from fresh grated corn or the commercial variety is used for porridges; in Trinidad, oatmeal and cream of wheat are more popular. Wheat flour is used by the general population to make dumplings (boiled and served as a lunch or dinner meal) and bakes (fried dough of flour leavened with baking powder) or roasted in ovens and served as breakfast, street food, or dinner; various types of bread (especially hops bread, a large dinner roll made from wheat flour); and baked products, such as sweet


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