Introduction

When I began researching the first edition of this cookbook, I came to realize that an inordinate number of people didn’t know where Trinidad & Tobago (pronounced Toe-BAY-go) was. Now, thanks to a happy confluence of events—a rennaissance of arts, music, literature, and dance, an eagerness among young Americans to travel outside of their comfort zones, as well as a visit from Anthony Bourdain for his popular show Parts Unknown—Trinidad & Tobago is now “on the map.” It certainly helps that the nation’s already well-known epic Carnival (Mardi Gras) celebrations have become equal to those of Rio de Janeiro in the eyes of the world—and a standard to which other Caribbean nations try to keep up.