Left: Eggplant boiled and crushed with callaloo and egg spices.
Center: From Trinidad and Tobago we serve up this colourful helping of saltfish souse. It is made up of tomatoes, onions, hot and sweet peppers and many more healthy herbs.
Right: Callaloo Soup with Dasheen Leaves is another favourite dish from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. - PHOTOS BY KEISHA SHAKESPEARE
ANTIGUA & BARBUDA
THE AMERINDIANS, the native inhabitants, first used pepperpot as a means of preserving food. Today it is mostly made with squash, spinach, eggplant, peas, pumpkin, okras, salted meats and dumplings.
Fungee, the other national dish of the Leeward Islands, is a paste-like ball of cornmeal and okras. Sharon Josephs, an Antiguan, says that natural herbs and spices are used to bring out the flavour of their foods. "We use a lot of green peppers, celery, and garlic, rather than hot peppers."
The final-year visual arts student at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA) and the University of the West Indies, (UWI) Mona, notes that chopped up (egg plant boiled then crushed and added with black pepper and while hot is added with sweet pepper and onions), ducana (a mixture of grated sweet potatoes, grated coconut, pumpkin (optional), nutmeg, ground black pepper, brown sugar, raisins (optional), mixed with milk and water and made into a batter and wrapped in banana or sea grape leaves and put to boil), as popular dishes.
"Ducana is often served with saltfish and chop-up as a prepared Easter dish," she said. On weekends, Friday through to Sunday evenings, many restaurants on the island specialise in local foods.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
DUE TO its diverse cultures there are many loved dishes in Trinidad and Tobago, hence it's hard to determine a national dish. In Tobago, however, crab and callaloo, when had with boiled dumpling, is a favourite.
The twin island's pot of goodies consists of roti, doubles, corn soup, saheena, kutchorie and kurma. "Trinidadians love their bellies, and we like seasoned food. At any gathering that we have, food must be involved, whether it be corn soup or buljol," says Aeleishe Desouza, a final-year geography student at UWI, Mona.
Here is a description of a variety of Trinidad and Tobago's dishes.
Buljol: Salted codfish shredded and seasoned with pepper, onions, tomatoes and olive oil, served in hops or baked.
Callaloo: Mixed with okra and other ingredients that may include coconut and pigtails.
Corn soup: A split pea-based soup with corn and dumplings.
Cou-cou: Often served with callaloo. This mixture of cornmeal, okra and butter is boiled and stirred till firm enough to be sliced.
Doubles: A popular Indian snack consisting of a soft, fried flour-and-split pea shell filled with curried chick peas.
Hops: A roll of white bread, similar to a hamburger bun, only crisper.
Macaroni pie: This macaroni, milk and cheese dish is baked and often accompanied by stewed meat and peas.
Pastelles: A Christmas speciality similar to Spanish-spiced ground meat with raisins and olives wrapped in a casing of cornmeal and steamed in banana leaves.
Pelau: A one-pot dish of rice, pigeon peas and meat, often cooked in coconut milk.
Phulouri: Small, deep-fried balls made of a highly-seasoned mixture of ground split peas and flour, served with spicy chutney.
Roti: A hefty flour wrap (often filled with ground split peas) filled with your choice of curried vegetables and/or meat. Sada roti is a slightly stiffer, greaseless variation, commonly served with vegetables sautéed Indian-style.
Shark-and-bake:
Richly seasoned shark fillets stuffed into a fried leavened bread (bake) and dressed with a variety of condiments, including pepper, garlic and chadon beni (cilantro) sauces.
ST. VINCENT & THE GRENADINES
SEAFOOD SUCH as conch and lobster is abundant in the territories. Common foods include callaloo soup, pumpkin soup, rotis, saltfish and various breadfruit preparations, including the national dish, which is breadfruit and fried jackfish.
Souse, which is made from pig foot, lime juice, cucumber, onion and peppers, is another delicacy in the country.
"Like most Caribbean islands we like our foods well-seasoned and with a little spice. Some persons, however, don't like their food being spicy but more so well-seasoned so much preparation is done before hand like from overnight. The preferred seasonings are minced thyme and scallion," says Maxine Browne, second-year dance student at the EMCVPA and the UWI.
