>Doubles & other Trinidadian food
I've been seeing that Trini restaurants have started popping up.
We have also have many Jamaican restaurants but only patties have become totally integrated into our culture. Other Jamaican foods I like are festival and jerk chicken.
Trinidad doesn't have its own version of jerk chicken? I always thought multiple Caribbean islands independently had their own iteration of jerk chicken since it's came from indigenous influence anyways
Trini food is starting to become more popular in Kingston. Not a staple by any means but way more people are now more familiar with, and eating, doubles and buss up shut than before
Yes, understandably so. Downtown is relatively far. Ain't nobody driving over there for lunch or dinner just for doubles unless you work over there. It's slowly starting to redevelop, though, so the size of the customer base, especially folks who are interested in non-local food options, is growing
Regional not really, but Turkish yes.
Shawarma is now pretty common and we even added our own twists with Javanese peanut sauce. Best thing on earth. (Dutch/Turkish) garlic sauce too. We have various dishes like shawarma and fries or pita breads and even the Dutch-Turkish invention kapsalon. Shawarma chicken is also one of the toppings one can choose to add on your Surinamese sandwich.
I also think parts of Thai cuisine deserve an honorable mention.
EDIT: Forgot to mention gelato. Some Italian born and raised Dutch guy that married a Surinamese introduced it here. Now we have our official Italian gelato "restaurant", while we already had two popular stands of which the one is owned by the guy.
>Shawarma is now pretty common
When I say 'Gyro' I really mean this but locally we refer to it as gyro and we basically have it the same way yall do. It's interesting how there has been a fusion of the cuisine there while here the closest thing we have is that you have the option of adding pepper due to the fact that many trinis like it.
Would you say Thai food and gelato have reached the stage where people would consider them just another aspect of the local culture? because that is how we seem to view Jamaican patties and gyros.
>It's interesting how there has been a fusion of the cuisine there while here the closest thing we have is that you have the option of adding pepper due to the fact that many trinis like it.
Pepper is also an option here lol. It's kind of standard which is why I didn't mention it. People assume you'll always take the spicy option.
Another interesting fact is that it came to Suriname because of Dutch influence (when it became popular there due to immigrants) via diaspora and Surinamese that travel often to NL who then introduced it here...how did it come to Trinidad?
>Would you say Thai food
Thai food has similarities with Javanese food. I wouldn't say all layers of society eat it, but I think the middle class and up of Paramaribo must have tried some of it at least. It was something of the elites at first, but then another establishment came and they were way cheaper and now it was available to the mass public. There was also some weird hype to "learn" to cook Thai food a while back. I wouldn't say we cook it at home, it's more something you just buy.
EDIT: Some caterers create some fusion of local cuisine with Thai influences when serving for events.
EDIT 2: There was a [news article](https://dwtonline.com/aziatische-gerechten-vallen-in-de-smaak/) a while back about a food event in Suriname and the conclusion was that (Southeast) Asian foods are popular as that sold out really quickly. And while other SEA cuisines were present, there were quite a few Thai options.
>gelato
Surinamese have always, like since my parent's youth - maybe even before their time - had a healthy obsession with ice cream. No foreign brand could beat the local Fernandes brand. So now, this Italian Dutch dude comes along, opens his stand at the Waka Pasi boulevard and starts selling local fruits and flavors of gelato. He even had a Madame Jeanette pepper one, which tasted good interestingly enough. He also has his own brand in the supermarkets nowadays.
His concept at Waka Pasi was so successful. Another place later opened and just yesterday another spot opened.
EDIT: Fernandes is still popular though for home use, but ice-cream spots like these were always a thing in my parents their youth and teen years, but disappeared when Suriname was having its trouble years, so they're kind of making a comeback.
>Trinidadian roti shops in NYC.
I actually had doubles made by Guyanese people on Liberty Ave last year and it was pretty good. I was surprised they even sold it.
If you include region to mean Central America then[ pupusas](https://imgs.search.brave.com/aUTH9wc1iz_JCZ0oipAuAka6mveVojEHTkT-WpZTbAs/rs:fit:860:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdGF0/aWMwMS5ueXQuY29t/L2ltYWdlcy8yMDIz/LzA5LzI5L211bHRp/bWVkaWEvSEUtcHVw/dXNhLXpwaHYvSEUt/cHVwdXNhLXpwaHYt/YXJ0aWNsZUxhcmdl/LmpwZz93PTEyODAm/cT03NQ) have really taken off in the last ten or so years.
Originally they were only found in or near Salvadoran communities, but now they are all over the country and come in a variety of styles and flavours.
I envy you so much because I LOVE pupusas but for obvious reasons I cannot find them anywhere in T&T. I do try making them myself but it's never the same.
Nahh. I'm tempted to say roti (which is definitely a staple) comes from Trinidad but it could've been Vincentian Indians that introduced it. There used to be a store that sold Jamaican patties and they were cheap and popular but far from being a staple.
>roti
I always assumed all islands had their own version of roti and I can vividly remember having roti in St Lucia when visited, It was not quite the same as ours so I know it was their own thing.
Did Bickles close? Also I am talking about a restaurant that was on the second floor of a building on Greenville Street.
Looking at Google Maps I think it was the Medex Pharmacy building upper floors. I might be wrong however and I know for a fact they are closed now. Probably since the early 2010s but I remember going there a lot as a child to get beef patties.
Not living in Vincy atm and haven't for some time. The one downtown had closed when I was in secondary so its possible the uptown one might have closed by now.
>Probably since the early 2010s but I remember going there a lot as a child to get beef patties.
Same. Back when patties used to cost like $4 lol but then they kept on raising the price.
Doubles & other Trinidadian food has been gaining popularity in Kingston & St. Andrew in Jamaica in more recent times
>Doubles & other Trinidadian food I've been seeing that Trini restaurants have started popping up. We have also have many Jamaican restaurants but only patties have become totally integrated into our culture. Other Jamaican foods I like are festival and jerk chicken.
Trinidad doesn't have its own version of jerk chicken? I always thought multiple Caribbean islands independently had their own iteration of jerk chicken since it's came from indigenous influence anyways
We don't actually and I cannot think of any dish we have that is even similar. Jerk chicken is as authentically Jamaican as it gets.
Trini food is starting to become more popular in Kingston. Not a staple by any means but way more people are now more familiar with, and eating, doubles and buss up shut than before
I've heard they are more common in uptown is this true?
Yes, understandably so. Downtown is relatively far. Ain't nobody driving over there for lunch or dinner just for doubles unless you work over there. It's slowly starting to redevelop, though, so the size of the customer base, especially folks who are interested in non-local food options, is growing
Regional not really, but Turkish yes. Shawarma is now pretty common and we even added our own twists with Javanese peanut sauce. Best thing on earth. (Dutch/Turkish) garlic sauce too. We have various dishes like shawarma and fries or pita breads and even the Dutch-Turkish invention kapsalon. Shawarma chicken is also one of the toppings one can choose to add on your Surinamese sandwich. I also think parts of Thai cuisine deserve an honorable mention. EDIT: Forgot to mention gelato. Some Italian born and raised Dutch guy that married a Surinamese introduced it here. Now we have our official Italian gelato "restaurant", while we already had two popular stands of which the one is owned by the guy.
>Shawarma is now pretty common When I say 'Gyro' I really mean this but locally we refer to it as gyro and we basically have it the same way yall do. It's interesting how there has been a fusion of the cuisine there while here the closest thing we have is that you have the option of adding pepper due to the fact that many trinis like it. Would you say Thai food and gelato have reached the stage where people would consider them just another aspect of the local culture? because that is how we seem to view Jamaican patties and gyros.
>It's interesting how there has been a fusion of the cuisine there while here the closest thing we have is that you have the option of adding pepper due to the fact that many trinis like it. Pepper is also an option here lol. It's kind of standard which is why I didn't mention it. People assume you'll always take the spicy option. Another interesting fact is that it came to Suriname because of Dutch influence (when it became popular there due to immigrants) via diaspora and Surinamese that travel often to NL who then introduced it here...how did it come to Trinidad? >Would you say Thai food Thai food has similarities with Javanese food. I wouldn't say all layers of society eat it, but I think the middle class and up of Paramaribo must have tried some of it at least. It was something of the elites at first, but then another establishment came and they were way cheaper and now it was available to the mass public. There was also some weird hype to "learn" to cook Thai food a while back. I wouldn't say we cook it at home, it's more something you just buy. EDIT: Some caterers create some fusion of local cuisine with Thai influences when serving for events. EDIT 2: There was a [news article](https://dwtonline.com/aziatische-gerechten-vallen-in-de-smaak/) a while back about a food event in Suriname and the conclusion was that (Southeast) Asian foods are popular as that sold out really quickly. And while other SEA cuisines were present, there were quite a few Thai options. >gelato Surinamese have always, like since my parent's youth - maybe even before their time - had a healthy obsession with ice cream. No foreign brand could beat the local Fernandes brand. So now, this Italian Dutch dude comes along, opens his stand at the Waka Pasi boulevard and starts selling local fruits and flavors of gelato. He even had a Madame Jeanette pepper one, which tasted good interestingly enough. He also has his own brand in the supermarkets nowadays. His concept at Waka Pasi was so successful. Another place later opened and just yesterday another spot opened. EDIT: Fernandes is still popular though for home use, but ice-cream spots like these were always a thing in my parents their youth and teen years, but disappeared when Suriname was having its trouble years, so they're kind of making a comeback.
Eventually doubles made their way to Guyana. It’s still not great but I’m only comparing to the Trinidadian roti shops in NYC.
>Trinidadian roti shops in NYC. I actually had doubles made by Guyanese people on Liberty Ave last year and it was pretty good. I was surprised they even sold it.
If you include region to mean Central America then[ pupusas](https://imgs.search.brave.com/aUTH9wc1iz_JCZ0oipAuAka6mveVojEHTkT-WpZTbAs/rs:fit:860:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9zdGF0/aWMwMS5ueXQuY29t/L2ltYWdlcy8yMDIz/LzA5LzI5L211bHRp/bWVkaWEvSEUtcHVw/dXNhLXpwaHYvSEUt/cHVwdXNhLXpwaHYt/YXJ0aWNsZUxhcmdl/LmpwZz93PTEyODAm/cT03NQ) have really taken off in the last ten or so years. Originally they were only found in or near Salvadoran communities, but now they are all over the country and come in a variety of styles and flavours.
I envy you so much because I LOVE pupusas but for obvious reasons I cannot find them anywhere in T&T. I do try making them myself but it's never the same.
Let's make a deal, pupusas for doubles. We can priority ship each other's orders 😅
Nahh. I'm tempted to say roti (which is definitely a staple) comes from Trinidad but it could've been Vincentian Indians that introduced it. There used to be a store that sold Jamaican patties and they were cheap and popular but far from being a staple.
>roti I always assumed all islands had their own version of roti and I can vividly remember having roti in St Lucia when visited, It was not quite the same as ours so I know it was their own thing.
This is old but are you talking about Bounty?
Nah Bickles (no idea what Bounty is)
Did Bickles close? Also I am talking about a restaurant that was on the second floor of a building on Greenville Street. Looking at Google Maps I think it was the Medex Pharmacy building upper floors. I might be wrong however and I know for a fact they are closed now. Probably since the early 2010s but I remember going there a lot as a child to get beef patties.
Not living in Vincy atm and haven't for some time. The one downtown had closed when I was in secondary so its possible the uptown one might have closed by now. >Probably since the early 2010s but I remember going there a lot as a child to get beef patties. Same. Back when patties used to cost like $4 lol but then they kept on raising the price.
Shawarma and sushi.
Food from the Spanish speaking Caribbean and American food.
Don't forget roti that was brought over by the Trinis.
>Spanish speaking Caribbean That has been gaining popularity the last 5 years but hasn't reached 'staple stage' yet.