The Global Palate

The Rhetoric of Food: An Insight on Trinidadian Food

and Toronto's Food Festivals

In a culinary landscape as diverse and dynamic as the city of Toronto, where every culture is celebrated and every street corner shares its own flavour narrative, there remains a high demand for cultural immersion. Toronto, known for its inclusivity, continuously fails to exhibit numerous culinary customs from various countries despite the existence of unique festivities intended to feature the community’s multiple customs and cuisines occurring throughout the city. Trinidad and Tobago is unfortunately one of those countries.

In the summer of 2022, Toronto held its first-ever Trinbago Toronto Festival with over 18,000 attendees. Trinidadians have been migrating to Canada for many years and have just gained a festival exemplifying their achievements. To eliminate the issue of underrepresentation of cultural cuisines like Trinidad and Tobago, Toronto must host more culinary events.

History of Food

The importance of West-Indian cuisine can be traced back to the migration of Indian indentured workers, who contributed to the development of Caribbean Creole cuisine as they had brought over their culinary traditions with them. Popular Trinidadian foods, like doubles, are known to imitate India’s channa bhatura – both containing deep-fried dough (bara or bhatura) paired with curried chickpeas (channa) – but has its own uniqueness.

Although the Indian indentured workers tried their best to recreate their authentic food, they did not have access to a lot of the spices required. Seasonings like coriander, mint leaves, and curry leaves were not produced in their new land, so they used alternatives like shado-beni – also known as cilantro – and created their own curry powder. These reimagined dishes contributed to the formation of a fresh identity, which spread across the world.

Food and Identity

While modern Trinidadians migrated across the world, they carried their cuisine with them, preserving its presence across different regions. Some immigrants opened ethnic restaurants to maintain their culture as it created a familiar social space and a cultural community. Following the era of colonialism, many cultures found themselves struggling to sustain their traditions, languages, and identities; but roti, an Indian bread, became a symbolic food, uniting those that have been divided.

As more immigrants explored their new land, they found themselves negotiating their identity. While they kept their Trinidadian distinctiveness, they were also embracing their new surroundings; this concept is called biculturalism. Although Trinidadians living abroad crafted a new identity for future generations, their culinary traditions remained the same. This is because food is associated with identity. As Plaza mentioned in his discourse, “It becomes a tool to maintain culture, share and display heritage, and transmit elements of cultural importance to successive generations.”

Conclusion

The new generation is in existence, and many find a sense of belonging in their parent’s culture and traditions. Food festivals offer that same feeling of belonging to a variety of cultures. It is important to remember where you came from, as that created the person you are. Toronto, being the multicultural society that it is, plays a part in culinary maintenance as food festivals are continuously being hosted downtown. Regardless, there is a lack of Trinidadian representation which needs to change.

Interview Overview

Chapter 8 of Foss’s book, Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration and Practice, discusses ideological criticism, reflecting a group of people’s “interpretation of some aspect of the world”, with an ideology being characterized by several features. One feature requires the idea’s beliefs to have alternative judgments. Considering Foss’s criticism along with Lloyd’s understanding of Nyāya – that being “positive debate” – a brief interview was conducted with Cherry Cordova – a Trinidadian-born woman who had married an Ecuadorian man while living in Toronto, Ontario – to help better understand the importance of food as it maintains her identity in Toronto.

Q&A with:

Cherry Cordova, Human Resource Manager

1. According to Keith Lloyd’s article titled “Learning from India’s Nyāya Rhetoric: Debating Analogically through Vāda’s Fruitful Dialogue,” Nyāya centres on the idea of positive debate, which contrasts the Western definition of debate as they are more confrontational. Importantly, the article discussed interfaith dialogues – that is, the coming together of different groups of people to discuss various ideas; it is said this promotes clarifications to be made. That being said, one of India's debate traditions pertains to convincing others through shared experiences. How has your relationship with Trinidadian food differed after marrying outside of your culture? How has it stayed the same?

Since getting married to an Ecuadorian, I have become even more appreciative of the Trini food experiences because I get to share it with another culture. My husband helps me to understand my food better because he has an outside perspective. I even use some Ecuadorian ingredients in my food. My relationship with my cultural food has stayed the same due to my strong cultural background.

2. Considering your two youngest children are mixed with Trinidad and Ecuador, how do you think your cultural food impacts how they identify themselves? Do you think their identity differs from your two eldest children, born to two Trinidadian parents?

My two youngest kids love being from two different cultures – they get the best of both worlds! My oldest of the two mixed kids, Izabella, she loves Trinidadian food such as the curries and stews. My youngest, Santiago, likes Ecuadorian foods such as empanadas, and soups. Overall, they like all the foods.

I see no difference with my kids. Even if you are born into a culture, you get used to the different food that is being made daily. All four of my kids eat both Trini food and Ecuadorian, so I don't think their identity changes much.

Homemade Canadian doubles, 2023

3. Dwaine Plaza’s article titled “Roti and Doubles as Comfort Foods for the Trinidadian Diaspora in Canada, the United States, and Britain” heavily discusses the association of food and memories. Plaza explicitly states, “Particular foods become fundamentally associated with holidays, get-togethers, positive memories, social and familial relationships, and locations of cultural importance.” Is there any cultural food that stimulates an association of some sort? How do you attempt to maintain or create associations with Trini food for your children?

The way I maintain Trini food is by taking them to Trinidadian restaurants and by making Trinidadian food for breakfast lunch and or dinner. We also specifically eat Trini food for weddings, Christmas, and pujas (Hindu ceremonies).

4. In the summer of 2022, Toronto released its first-ever Trinbago Toronto Festival. What are your thoughts on this food festival dedicated to your home country?

I absolutely love the idea of there being a Trinidadian food festival. Most people I talk to have enjoyed Trini food like roti and doubles. They received the most positive feedback. I haven’t heard of the Trinbago Toronto Festival, but I would love to go one year. I also think it would be beneficial for Trini food festivals to be hosted in more cities because we have a lot of Trini people all over the world.

Trinidad pholourie, 2022