Food- This is not your Mama’s Grocery Store

Shopping for food since leaving the states has been an adventure in itself. They say that you may not eat the same foods you are used to when traveling, but you will eat. People everywhere must eat. We just have to learn to eat local. Potatoes are still available, but they have become a treat. In this heat and humidity, they are good for about three days. On day three, they grow many appendages and by day five they are a smelly liquid. Rice is good and flavored with the curries and saffron here that are sold by the baggy-full here for pennies is also quite tasty.

Meat has been tough because it is not cured as it is in the United States. The beef and pork that we buy here was alive only hours ago and is much like eating your shoe. We have bought the best cuts of fillet mignon and pork tenderloin and they do not match USDA quality. We occasionally see Omaha Steak USDA meat on the shelves and we fill our freezer when we do.

Chicken is very good and this is one meat where fresh is very good. Many of the shops allow you to look your chicken in the eye before it is dispatched for your culinary pleasure. Here Emily is standing in front of several chickens with tied feet and is learning about the food chain.

Fish is universally good everywhere and we only buy whole fish where we can see the eyes and know it is fresh. Yes, that is a shark behind Emily in the market. We have had blackfin tuna, dorado, and several fish that we only know the local names of. They are all good and could not be fresher. Those crabs in the photo with Emily are alive and are individually tied by hand with vines.

The vegetables are good. Cassava is like potato and is good. Calabash is like spinach and is used in soups. We all like the peppers and the Captain enjoys the hot sauces. We bought a pint jar of pepper sauce that we thought would last a lifetime since a small amount will bring beads of sweat to my entire head. I have been adding it to more and more dishes and at last look it is already half gone!

Fruits are simply to die for. Mangos and papayas are picked only when ripe and the juice running down your chin makes you glad you left off your shirt because of the afternoon heat. Coconuts, pineapple, bananas are all sweet and juicy.

It is truly a blessing that Emily has an adventurous palate. She is always willing to try new things and having her along in the markets opens up the locals to share how foods are prepared and eaten locally. I wonder what kinds of food await us as we get ready to move on from Trinidad.

Tom