Rachael Ray’s Travel Tidbits - Trinidad and Tobago

Filed Under articles | Posted on January 10, 2007

Trini ‘Doubles’ - the ultimate street food
Photo taken by the lovely and generous Chennette ;)

Well whodathunk it? I found a Trinidad and Tobago blurb on Rachael Ray’s Food Network site! Now what I want to know is did the show actually come here? Were we featured on an episode or something? Oh I’d love to have the Food Network 24hrs a day. One of the local channels carries it for a few hours at a time (both live and taped). It’s better than nothing I guess :( … Anyway, here are Rachael’s tidbits with my comments in italics! :)

Click here to read the entire: Rachael Ray’s Travel Tidbits : Food Network

?｢どｨｬ｢ Best on-the-go grub: A “doubles” (shown above) is a sandwich that starts with a piece of fried, split-pea bread, called bara. Then its topped with curried chick peas, or channa. You can spice it up with your choice of a specialty sauce, tasty chutney or sliced cucumbers in a pepper sauce. Then its finished off with a second piece of bread. A “roti” is a burrito-like meal that is usually packed with curried goat, potato or chicken.

?｢どｨｬ｢ Rachael’s fast facts: Calypso music and pan music aka steel drums started in Trinidad. Steel pan music took off in the late 1930s when oil drums were brought to Trinidad by U.S. troops. (Correction lovey, the drums were already here. We are an oil-producing nation, it’s our #1 export :D Why do you think the troops were here in the first place? For a full overview of the birth and evolution of the steelpan (never steel drums) visit “The Early History of Steelpan in Trinidad and Tobago“)

?｢どｨｬ｢ Trinidad food staples:
Pawpaw, an exotic fruit that has a mango banana flavor (is it that exotic? have just learnt about papaya papaw and paw paw in my curiosity.. all very confusing!)
Callaloo, a creamy, Creole dish that is similar to spinach. (The -vegetable- is similar to spinach. I’m not sure how a dish is similar to a vegetable??)
Soursop, a tart fruit that makes up one of the island’s most popular beverages (It does???)

?｢どｨｬ｢ Best bet for bird-watchers: Because Trinidad is located on the migratory flight path of hundreds of species of birds, it is natural aviary and a great place to break out your binoculars.

?｢どｨｬ｢ Talk like a Trinidadian: The expression, “liming” means hanging out, or chillin out. Some say the term was coined when the British Navy would dock in Trinidad. The locals would hang out with the British, aka “the Limeys,” and thats how the expression was created.

?｢どｨｬ｢ Rachael’s must-see: The botanical gardens in The Queen’s Park Savannah are home to one of the oldest collections of exotic plants and trees in the western hemisphere.

?｢どｨｬ｢ Best bet for beer: Carib

?｢どｨｬ｢ Did you know? Angostura Bitters are native to Trinidad & Tobago, and the company has kept their legendary recipe a secret since 1824.



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28 Responses to “Rachael Ray’s Travel Tidbits - Trinidad and Tobago”

  1. boo on January 10th, 2007 2:54 am | link

    (i thought i posted this already, but i dont see it!)

    i am pretty sure paw paw and papaya are not the saem, cause paw paw is safe if you are alelrgic to latex, but papaya is NOT safe. but maybe they just got it wrong on the show!

    i am craving curried chick peas right NOW but they taek so long to cook! but i am going to start some soaking tonight so i can cook them tomorrow, then they wont take so long :)

  2. Sarina on January 10th, 2007 3:23 am | link

    Boo - hi :) comments are currently being sent to the spam filter… it’s been a problem for the last 24 hours… the company says they working on the problem.. so you may not see them right away when you post… Well apparently there is papaw paw paw and papaya… all very confusing to me.. especially after reading this link -> http://www.horticulture.com.au/news/default.asp?act=detail&mode=&newsid=34 maybe i need sleep :P … I’ll edit my post to reflect this…

  3. boo on January 10th, 2007 3:31 am | link

    oh that is even more confusing! and american paw paw has banana mango flavor — is that what papaya tastes like too?

  4. Sarina on January 10th, 2007 3:40 am | link

    boo - i’ve only ever had what we locally called paw paw … and it tastes like what rachael and you described… so confusing :P

  5. boo on January 10th, 2007 3:58 am | link

    i just went looking and wiki has entries for paw paw and papaya and there are some pictures! the insides are VERY different. papaya is golden with a bunch of dark seeds in the middle all together and paw paw is pale with bigger seeds that are each by their own selfs.

  6. Casey on January 10th, 2007 7:52 am | link

    Hi Sarina,
    This week’s first
    ‘Shout Out’ at Cyber-holidays goes to Trinigourmet.com. Check out the iFrame at Cyber-holidays to have a look. This my way of appreciating & spreading the
    word about your unique work. Keep up the good work.Three Cheers for Tuluum- Hip Hip Hurray!!

  7. lime on January 10th, 2007 8:05 am | link

    oh yum, doubles! i learned how to cook lots of trini food during my stay but that wasn’t one of them and my family loves them. i feelin fuh sme doubles wit slight pepper…..

    thanks for the link…i’ll be returning the favor shortly

  8. Sarina on January 10th, 2007 10:39 am | link

    Boo - :) you got as curious as me :lol: what we have in trinidad is definitely papaya, but we call it paw paw … (that paw paw looks creepy!!!) …

    Casey - oh wow! thanks! I’m a gonna look and then I’ll tell the general readership about your site :D

    Lime - Yay! Thanks for dropping by :) Oh doubles is sooo good isn’t it? :)

  9. kevian on January 10th, 2007 12:44 pm | link

    Lawd dat doubles looks great!!

  10. Sarina on January 10th, 2007 1:07 pm | link

    kevian - ent? :D

  11. Marsha on January 10th, 2007 1:17 pm | link

    OMG DOUBLES
    But you know I would only eat UWI doubles with EVERYTHING but coconut!
    The one doubles weigh like 2lbs and cost 1.50 TT…That used to fill me up for the whole day!

  12. Marsha on January 10th, 2007 1:30 pm | link

    So you have a barah recipe or video? We demanding eh? :)

  13. Sarina on January 10th, 2007 1:33 pm | link

    Marsha - I have heard sonnets written about these damn UWI doubles, I am YET to have one … maybe I should make that one of my foodie resolutions of 2007 :) If you see the fancy coffeehouse UWI have now … you could put coconut on doubles? I must try that!

    No bara recipe or video yet but Chennette have a nice tutorial here that should set you straight :) And gyul you have no idea how demanding all yuh is.. every day i read the log of what people are searching for and if I was to post all them things I would be 600lbs heavier and sleepless! All yuh give me a little time nah :) One thing at a time lolz!! Someone was searching for saddam last week tho o.O me eh know ’bout dat one!

  14. Marsha on January 10th, 2007 2:30 pm | link

    Yeh girl!
    Dey used to roast the shredded coconut and put it on there for a flavor!
    It taste alright but I could do without it!
    Try the UWI doubles!
    All right ah go give yuh ah ease up on de demands and check out Chennette ting!

  15. Lilandra on January 10th, 2007 5:14 pm | link

    I think Rachael Ray did a Tasty Travels in Trinidad or something. Did you try searching FoodNetwork?

    http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/show_ry/episode/0,,FOOD_23076_39725,00.html

  16. Sarina on January 10th, 2007 5:51 pm | link

    Lilandra - thanx :D i’s only search food network for recipes and it took me long enough to figure out how their engine figures -that- out lolz :D

  17. burekaboy on January 10th, 2007 9:02 pm | link

    hey there - i had always heard about these but never seen them, so thanks to you and chennette :))

    no comment on you-know-who. ;p grrrr.

    you’re lookin’ a little thin, sarina. i think u need to post more. HEHE.

  18. Sarina on January 10th, 2007 9:18 pm | link

    burekaboy - oh great, join the fatten me up movement, i don’t need help there!! :lol:
    hehhee you-know-who lolz!!! Doubles are love :D Channa is love :D

  19. Rachel on January 10th, 2007 11:25 pm | link

    That looks SO GOOD! I need a vacation. Thanks for providing all the interesting information on your country.

  20. Chennette on January 10th, 2007 11:51 pm | link

    I LOVE coconut chutney - you don’t see it all the time. Mmmm. Love it on doubles. And I have had a UWI doubles or few. Not the fanatic who lines up and parks all over the road and on the pavement or wherever…but that’s just because I wasn’t around that area regularly.

  21. Sarina on January 11th, 2007 12:00 am | link

    Rachel - It tastes even better than it looks :lol: I’m so glad you like learning about my country :) I always want to share it with people :) I see you joined MyBlogLog! Yay! It’s an awesome place :)

    Chennette - LOLZ!! Park up on de pavement! That’s the scene opposite Long Circular Mall on a morning as well with the doubles vendor there. I’s always wonder what’s up and want to park up to find out. How much you wanna bet now that I have this blog I will do exactly that? LOLZ!

  22. Chennette on January 11th, 2007 1:20 am | link

    Well, just as long as you review the merits of the Long Circular Doubles man!

    I just noticed your pingback to my post was lost in Spam. They’re really cracking down - a comment I made was caught there!

  23. Sarina on January 11th, 2007 1:29 am | link

    Chennette - oh you know i will :D hehee … we are both using Akismet … they are having problems… it’s MUCH better today.. almost 75% over yesterday… i wrote them and they said they were working on it… hope it’s 100% tomorrow … it’s annoying to go into my spam folder every 30 minutes to make sure …

  24. 1969 on January 11th, 2007 3:11 pm | link

    Rachel did a show called Tasty Travels in Trinidad.

    I saw the episode.

    As for the food….it was a decent representation.

    I could eat a doubles right now!

  25. Sarina on January 11th, 2007 3:15 pm | link

    1969 - Thanks for letting us know that! I wish I had seen it… :( Glad the representation was decent, yuh know how they can get confused sometimes! I drove past the doubles man just an hour ago ‘69! Yuh want slight pepper? :)

  26. Lilandra on January 11th, 2007 4:26 pm | link

    I like cucumber chutney! mmm

  27. Sarina on January 11th, 2007 4:33 pm | link

    Lilandra - cucumbers + me = allergic :(

  28. Lilandra on January 11th, 2007 5:10 pm | link

    YIKES!

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