The population mix in Trinidad & Tobago is fascinating with a large East Indian population, a large population of black Trinis, and a smattering of other races including Caucasians, Chinese, and Syrians to just name a few. With such an interesting mix of people, you are bound to have a variety of food. Seven delicious street foods are easily found.
Seven delicious street foods – I am not the only one who loves corn soup
Street food in Trinidad & Tobago is amazing
Street food in Trinidad & Tobago is some of the best I have found. Each population group has its thumb print on the Trinidad & Tobago menu. Trinidad & Tobago is a tropical island, so it comes as no surprise that seafood and tropical fruit would also make an appearance on the list.
Seven delicious street foods in Trinidad & Tobago
7. Corn Soup
The first dish I had in Trinidad was a lunch of corn soup. We arrived at Chaguaramas National Park the day before Carnival and the usual street vendors were nowhere to be found. Just a small little stand selling corn soup in a little Styrofoam cup. This is a watery course with chunks of potatoes and little corn cobs bobbing in a green liquid with some spicy peppers. This would not be my last run in with corn soup as it was provided for our Chocolate City J’Ouvert meal the very next day. I love corn soup.
Russ loves his corn soup
6. Gyros
There is a small Syrian population in Trinidad & Tobago and they run a series of street food shops along the main drag in the Woodbrook neighborhood on Ariapita Avenue. I have never had such amazing gyros before. For about five or seven dollars, you will get a tight, tasty wrap of awesomeness. I will never forget the tongs grabbing a generous portion of lamb meat dripping with juice and laying it on the bread. Then they covered it with sauce and other extras before dripping some spicy pepper sauce. Watch out they do not over do it with the pepper sauce or you will be gasping for water.
Seven delicious street foods – Opening up the coconut in Trinidad & Tobago
Seven delicious street foods – Enjoying some delicious coconut water in Trinidad & Tobago
5. Coconut with jelly
There is something about buying food on the street that needs to be opened by a machete. Coconut vendors can be found all over. Just look for a lady near a pick up with a machete. First, they will open a notch in the coconut and give you a straw to sip up the coconut water. Tip, coconut water mixes well with the local rum. After consuming the liquid, they will smash open the fruit and cut a little notch, so you can scrape up the jelly.
Seven delicious street foods – Mouth watering saheena in Trinidad & Tobago
Seven delicious street foods – Friendly saheena and doubles stand in Debe
4. Saheena
Saheena is like doubles (see number one) as it is like a mini burrito filled with delicious local ingredients enclosed with a battered wrap and deep fried. The filling consists of lots of chopped spinach and stirred in a split pea flour base and then fried. Lots of spices and peppers go into the filling as well including cumin, minced garlic, curry powder, and onions. The product is filling and delicious.
3. Roti
I have a roti confession to make. I actually did not try one in Trinidad & Tobago. Roti is a tasty flat bread served with meats and vegetables. In my defense, I did have the buss-up-shut, which is roti in little pieces that supposedly resembles a busted up shirt. You can dip your bust-up-shut in your curry sauce or use it as a wrap and fold it over meat and vegetables. Typical ingredients consist of dhal, spinach, chickpeas, mango chutney, and of course pepper salsa.
Seven delicious street foods – Enjoying a bake and shark at Maracas Beach in Trinidad & Tobago
Seven delicious street foods – Loving all my fixing on my bake and shark and the carib beer is pretty good too
2. Bake and Shark
This is a fried shark sandwich served with your choice of fixings. At Maracas Beach, they have Bake and Shark stands including the extremely popular joint called Richard’s. They have a buffet of fixings for your sandwich including a variety of sauces and tomatoes, lettuce, and onions. The sandwich is incredibly flaky and a must have when visiting the beach or anywhere else. They also serve this nightly at the Savanna in downtown Port of Spain.
Seven delicious street foods – Grand master doubles maker in Trinidad & Tobago
1. Doubles
This Trinidad favorite is quite like saheena in that it is a little ball of flavor. They have doubles makers on the street who work their craft, as Hardee Karges points out in his book Hypertravel, like a DJ. They make a double in like ten seconds dancing around spreading their delicious sauce on a baked bread like a rapper manipulating a worn record. The ingredients are similar to roti, but instead rolled up in a ball. When you find a good one, you might have to wait in line for 15-20 minutes as they draw a crowd and people will order 4 or 5 at a time.
After writing this post and researching the ingredients online, I am ready to return and enjoy more of the seven delicious street foods from Trinidad & Tobago.
Read more from my adventure in Trinidad & Tobago
Beautiful women of Trinidad & Tobago photo essay
Asa Wright is the heart of Trinidad & Tobago
Asa Wright Nature Center proves Trinidad is the land of the hummingbird
Asa Wright clear water pool in Trinidad & Tobago
Caroni Swamp is a mini Everglades in Trinidad & Tobago
Caroni Swamp is home to the scarlet ibis, the national bird of Trinidad
Boogie board and bake and shark at Maracas Beach in Trinidad
J’Ouvert with Chocolate City opens Trinidad & Tobago Carnival
Adventure on!
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Wow, some feast you’ve had there. Making me hungry.
Trinidad and Tobago sure has some interesting street food! Are you hoping that shark sandwiches become popular in Chicago? 🙂
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That would be great, but it would not be as fresh. Perhaps they will start serving back and Asian carp.
Just reread this and noticed your fanny pack! The perfect accessory for storing leftover corn soup for later 🙂
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I don’t leave home without it.
happy u enjoyed your visit to our twin isle republic, please come again .
Thanks Sherry,
I had a great time and ate so well as you can see.
Ohhhhhhhhhh…you’ve made me homesick! That is everything that I had while I was there for Christmas. Glad that you had a wonderful time.
After eating delicious food for a week in Trinidad & Tobago, I am missing the cuisine too not to mention everything else.
You should come again, there is a lot more food for your tastebuds to explore as well as everything else.
Thanks Annaly, I will definitely be back for more food and adventure.
There is a place called the Nariva Swamp. Very interesting place, you can see manatees there as well as blue and gold macaws.
I really wanted to see Nariva when I was there two years ago, but we did not have the time. That would be the first place I would want to see after eating great food again of course.
That missing anything about Trinidad and Tobago: the food, Carnival, beaches, the people et al, is what we call “tabanca”….a longing for
I definitely long for Trinidad & Tobago. I can’t wait to come back.
When I was in T&T on the street they sold these paper cones filled with some kind of dough balls that were dipped in I think it was hot green mango dipping sauce. Do you know of this food? I am trying to find how to make it for 20 years now, the flavor has haunted me. It was kinda like a chick pea fritter small ball bathed in this yummy sauce.
Hi Barbara,
I think what you are talking about is pholourie. Check this link out: http://www.trinigourmet.com/index.php/pholourie-recipe/
Sounds like you’re talking about pholorie
http://www.whatocook.com/image-files/pholorie.jpg
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I enjoyed pholorie too. So many delicious food items, so little time 🙂
I just came upon your question hope this reply reaches you. It’s called polouri. Polouri mix can be found in Associated and Key food Supermarkets that carry W.I. products in Brooklyn NY.
Wow, thanx. I am in North Central FL and will check at the local Bravo supermarket which sells island foods and south american cuban etc. foods. If you know the name of the company that boxes the mix, that could be helpful as none of these people who work there at Bravo speak very good English.
Its called phoulorie pronounced (pull- lorry). It’s an Indian delicacie.
i am amazed how many years this post has been active, and happy to get reminded of this again … i totally forgot about it bec i no longer eat fried foods … yum though a lovely piece of the carribbean brings back lots of vacation memories.
You and me both Barbara. Every year or so it goes on a crazy Facebook run and is shared all over again. I just did a Google analytics check and this post has been viewed over 22,000 times – By far the most heavily viewed post of over 1,000 that I have written here. The next closest post on my website is a post on traveling to Guyana at 18,000 then a post on a summer music festival in Illinois at 9,000. It goes to show that people in T&T are very passionate about their food.
love it, the amazing process of the internet is so delightful, albeit a double edge sword to drive us crazy at time. Thanx for the camaraderie!
Thanks for following along on the thread 🙂
I grew in the Caribbean and I hate coconuts! Nuts! Now bake n shark? Awesome!
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Good article, made me smile. Did you try Souse Ted?
I did not try souse. I now have a new item to eat next time I come. Thanks for the suggestion.
Ted, you need to come back and try curry cascadoo. A fav with many trinis but seldom introduced to visitors
Souse, also black pudding, polourie, salt nuts, aloo pie. This should be your next 5 street foods followed by regular food: curry crab and dumpling, callaloo, oil down, pelau, macaroni pie, stew chicken… There’s a lot of eating still to be done!
you’re forgetting Curry Duck! lol…..
I am glad it made you smile Trish. I did not try souse. I am glad so many people added items in the comment section. I now have an online list for my next visit.
Yayyy!!! I currently live in Trinidad though I don’t like much of these stuff o.o :3 I always wanted to travel around! I’ve not been to much places 🙁
Seeing more of your home country is a good start Séliné. Have you been to Asa Wright or Caroni Swamp.
Caroni Swamp? Yes! Asa Wright? Nope but I’ve heard of it(: I actually lived in Africa the past couple of years so I’m now getting back familiar with Trinidad places haha
You have been to Africa? You said you have not been to many places 🙂 I have never been to Africa. Enjoy your time in T&T.
Lol, considering That I want to travel the world, I have not been to much but I do appreciate being here at the moment. It’s quite different and awesome^.^ where are you from, if you don’t mind?
T&T is a good place for a base. I live in Chicago, Illinois.
You need to add Crab and Dumpling from Tobago and Pelau, another national dish of Trinidad!!! Come back and try them!
Crab and dumpling sounds sooooo good right now Alicia. I cannot wait to return.
Aint eat nothing yet what about crab and dumpling or curry duck and dumpling
Yum, sounds delicious. Can’t wait to return.
You also need to try coconut bake and buljol (a kind of salad with salted fish). Also Said roti and tomato choka (roasted tomatoes salsa)
Its supposed to be SADA Roti, this autocorrect…. Lol
That all sounds delicious. I need to go through all these comments, go back to T&T, and try all the items that people have suggested like yourself. Then I can write a new post 🙂
Enjoyed your commentary about food in good ole TnT. Fortunately I try to get there every year. I haven’t tasted food the same anywhere I have visited. Love it. There are a lot to try such as fried breadfruit with curry fish or even fried eddoes with curry fish. A lot you haven’t tried.
You are lucky to get there year after year. I ate quite a lot of different foods during my week in T&T. Hard to believe there is so much more. Can’t wait to get back.
If you can get past how they look, on your next visit, you must try Chicken Foot Souse from the female vendor who has her cart on the corner across the street from Smokey and Bunty’s in St.James. Sooooooo delicious, with just the right amount of heat! Try some of the Chows too…..Mango, Pineapple, Pommecythere, Plum etc etc etc. Food in T&T is simply outstanding!
It sure is June. Thank you so much for the tip. I did check out the St. James neighborhood. Look forward to acting on this tip someday 🙂
Please visit again, though we are a tiny Caribbean Island there’s so much more than meets the eye
Thank you Joanne. I certainly will. I had a great time and would love to return both for Carnival again and also some time when it is not so crazy.