TT - Trinidad & Tobago

Marty and I went to TT for Spring Break a few weeks ago. Not only was the weather lovely but the local food divine. We stayed with his precocious nine-year old goddaughter and the parents. Debbie, her mother, is a TT/Caribbean celebrity chef so needless to say we ate pretty well...We kicked off the liming at a local rum shop en route from the airport with ice cold Carib and Stag beers, dubbed by roadside banners as "the man's drink" (Marty preferred the Carib which has a crisper finish). This was accompanied by delicious handmade handheld food - roti stuffed with curried potatoes and your choice of meat (goat or chicken are the most common) wrapped in light blue-purple tissue paper. On Sunday, we were treated to a traditional Sunday lunch with callaloo soup, stewed chicken, fish chowder, and breadfruit. Breadfruit kicks any potatoes ass - it has a firmness - slightly sweet, non-starchy quality. One day, we drove to Debe in Trinidad and had Carib-Indian fried street food. I never thought much about fried food's differentiation but each local stall had his/her own following. Lightly battered, fried to a certain lightness, crispy yet moist but not too moist that only tastes good at a certain temperature - one degree over or below makes the whole thing a bit sad. TT subsists on a pretty impressive diet: fish, chicken (one fried breakfast egg is about five fried breakfast eggs), vegetables rice and local fruit. The strong sense of Indian-Chinese-African flavors meld together quite well.