This post was originally published on February 3, 2007. It has been updated once since then.

I was talking to a Brazilian friend a few years ago and she was surprised at some of the differences between our Carnival and theirs. You see it was a few weeks ago when she decided to look and see what costume/band she should play with. She was shocked when all the Trinis were like, whoa you are way too late. You see, here Carnival bands launch their designs in the final quarter of the …

Image from the Trinidad Guardian
If you are getting the sense that Carnival is one big long party you are right! So it only makes sense that one big long party would be made of many many big long parties as well. These parties in Trinidad are called fetes and are attended by hundreds sometimes thousands. Fetes feature the biggest soca artists of the season and can go on until daybreak. As the Carnival season draws near the number of fetes grows exponentially, and are not restricted to weekends either. It …

Exodus Steelband performing in Trafalgar Square, England – photo by bram_souffreau

It seems that every time a North American program wants to denote the ‘tropics’ you will hear the sound of a steelpan. It doesn’t even to seem to matter if the ‘tropics’ are in the Caribbean on a cruise ship or in Hawaii! If you ask someone from those parts of the world what instrument they are hearing you may even hear them say ’steel drums’ … oh my my my.. It is time for some Steel pan 101. A …

This post was originally published on February 14, 2007. It has been updated once since then.

Welcome to the second part of my Ten Part series on the sights, sounds, and tastes of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.
It is hard to imagine Carnival without music. And the definitive music of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is soca. So what is Soca Music?
Well, why not let Soca Superstar Machel Montano say it in his own words?

From Caribbean Music 101 (the original link no longer works unfortunately):
What is Soca?
Soca is a …

This post was originally published on January 24, 2007. It has been updated once since then.

With a little over a week to go it is high time that I shine a spotlight on Trinidad’s largest cultural festival, Carnival.
Where did the word “carnival” come from?
Hundred and hundreds of years ago, the followers of the Catholic religion in Italy started the tradition of holding a wild costume festival right before the first day of Lent. Because Catholics are not supposed to eat meat during Lent, they called their festival, carnevale – …

TriniGourmet’s Amazon Hotlist is a compilation of -your- most clicked (and purchased) items on TriniGourmet.com
*note: Hover your mouse over each title for more details!

1. Caribbean Cookbook: A Lifetime of Recipes
Description: Rita Springer is a culinary icon in the Caribbean. Her original “Caribbean Cookbook”, first published in 1968, is a paperback classic and continues to be widely used throughout the Caribbean.This new edition’s elegant format, with her recipes accompanied by high quality photographs for the very first time, is a fitting tribute to her lifetime’s work. Rita’s comprehensive repertorie of …

Better late than never, here are the top 10 posts of 2009.

1. Trinidad Corn Soup with Cornmeal Dumplings (recipe)
Corn soup is a street food favorite here in Trinidad, especially at carnival time when vendors ply large pots of it that they spoon into styrofoam cups outside of fetes and clubs. It’s also popular as a Saturday lunch.

2. Top 10 Chicken Recipes on Trinigourmet.com
You’ve voted for these chicken recipes with your clicks and your comments! Faves include Oven BBQ Chicken, Jamaican Fricassee Chicken, Kung Pao Chicken, and (naturally) my father’s …

Chive Blossoms – our garden
Tonight marks the start of Tu B’Shevat, one of my favourite holidays on the Jewish calendar. There’s something whimsical and life-affirming about having a New Year’s celebration for the environment and the seder (religious) service which accompanies it has a focus on our role as stewards of the planet, as well stewards of our own ever-evolving personal natures that I find inspirational. Traditionally this holiday is celebrated with vegetarian fare, and my centerpiece for many years has been eggplant lasagna.
I think it’s time to shake …

Happy New Year! It feels like FOREVER
Technical difficulties, health challenges and work whirlwinds have all kept me from being an active presence here over the past two months. The worst of the worst seems to have passed and so I am now ready and excited to return to you! I have some large plans for the site in 2010 so do stay tuned
Last month CCN TV6 ran a feature on a North Miami Roti Shop called Christine’s which, thanks to YouTube I can now share …