Rachael Ray’s Travel Tidbits – Trinidad and Tobago

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! 🙂

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• 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.

• 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 😀 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“)

• 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???)

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Best bet for beer: Carib

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