breads and pastries, some with coconut. Float (a type of fried bake) and accra (a fish fritter) are variations of West African fritters and are special dishes of Tobago. Bake makes a mouth-watering sandwich available year-around that is also a favorite at parties (fetes or limes).


The ethnic diversity is exemplified by the strong Indian influence on the cuisine, especially the Hindu


food choices—the predominant staple foods of the country are rice and wheat flour (7). Rice is eaten daily, with or without the addition of peas, beans, or other vegetables. The rice may be plain white or parboiled and may be served with pumpkin, ochro, or baghi (a dark green leafy vegetable similar to spinach and mustard greens in its nutritional content). Another popular rice dish is calypso rice, which includes tomato (sometimes as catsup), mixed vegetables, and canned corn. Another basic staple food is roti, a flat, bread- like item made from white wheat flour to which salt, water, baking powder, and oil are added, depending on the type. Roti is usually cooked on a cast iron baking stone called a tawah placed on the stove top, or in an earthen cooking furnace called a chulha. Wooden pallets called dabla are used to turn the roti during cooking.


There are four main types of roti used at different times (9). Roti’s nutritional value, especially energy,


fat (type and amount), and protein content, varies according to the type and filling. Roti is eaten either as part of a meal or as a complete meal on its own, when wrapped around cooked curried meat or peas. Variations are aloo puree (with English potato) and bara (smaller in size and used as “doubles”). The doubles refers to two baras with chickpeas or potato filling in between. These are sold by street vendors and eaten any time of day as breakfast, lunch, supper, or a snack. Because of its affordability and popularity over the years, it is considered a national food item. Other popular snack items made from flour are khurma/kurma/koorma (sweet, fried dough coated in sugary syrup) and pholourie (fried balls of split pea dough).


Chicken is popular and prepared in a variety of ways, preferably stewed, curried, or fried, but also


baked or barbequed (10,11). Other meats sometimes eaten include goat, pork, lamb, duck, and beef. Liver can be used as a substitute for pork blood to make the filling for a dish, adapted from French cuisine, called black pudding (blood sausage), typically stuffed with rice or potato, pork fat, seasonings and eaten at social events (8). Garlic pork is another traditional favorite of Trinidad (12). It is prepared by steeping raw, cut up pork in a garlic vinegar sauce outside the refrigerator for at least two weeks and then fried. In Tobago, chicken, goat, pork, crab, fish, shell fish, and conch are stewed, fried, baked, and barbecued. Wild meats eaten include turtle, iguana lizard, manicou (opossum), tattoo (armadillo), lappe/agouti (type of rodent similar to guinea pig), and quenk (wild hog) (8).


Fresh fish is prepared in a variety of ways, but frying is the most popular (10,11). The river fish, cascadura, is prized and eaten on special occasions in Trinidad, usually curried. Popular shellfish include crab, shrimp, oyster, conch, chip (a small shellfish similar to clams in taste), and shark (a boneless fish), a “must-have” with bake. Crab, lobster, or cascadura can be used to make a dish called matete, but crab is most often cooked down with callaloo as the National dish.


Fresh milk is consumed mainly by children, but the fermented milk product dahi (curdled milk) is


made by the East Indians and eaten like yogurt. Milk forms the base for East Indian sweet delicacies (meti), such as barfi/barfee (a sweet made of condensed milk and sugar, flavored with fruits or nuts and spices), and peera (similar to barfi, with a ground rice base), which are eaten on special occasions as snacks.


All legumes are imported, except pigeon peas (Cajanus cajan), which are the most popular. Also used


are black eyed peas, lentils, split peas, mung beans (urdee), and chickpeas (garbanzo) used for making dahl (curried peas cooked to a watery consistency). Split peas and chickpeas are often roasted and


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