Trinidad & Tobago street food:The humble Doubles

There are lots of delicious street foods to be found all over T&T.Some examples that immediately come to my mind are pholourie,corn soup,chicken foot souse and geera pork.None of these compare however to the popularity and taste of the Trini Doubles.They are the number one go to food when you are hungry and/or in a rush.They are also the cheapest street food you can find on the islands and whether having them for breakfast, lunch or even dinner,nothing beats a good doubles or two with slight pepper and a cold red Solo or Apple J to wash them down with.In fact,that's exactly what I had for my breakfast this morning!

My breakfast:Doubles and a red Solo soft drink © All rights reserved

Doubles with cucumbers and slight pepper © All rights reserved

There are hundreds of doubles vendors spread all over the country and one of the more popular venues which you may have heard of to get your doubles fix is on the Southern Main road at Curepe junction.Here you can find the famous 'Sauce' doubles man.

I used the term 'humble doubles' because this street food consists of basically just two things-Bara and some Channa.For my non-trini readers who may not know,bara is like a fried flat bread and channa is chickpeas which in this case is curried.Channa is slapped onto a bara and another bara is added on top making it into a sandwich of sorts.This is then wrapped in parchment paper and handed to you.

What makes a doubles really mouth watering however are the toppings that are added to it.These can include shadonbeni(culantro),grated cucumbers,chutneys such as mango,coconut or tamarind and probably the most important topping for a Trini...hot pepper sauce! Below you can see two pictures of my friend Jennifer,a doubles vendor who sells close to my home.She's serving two customers.I bought my breakfast doubles from her and must say it was very tasty indeed! Thanks for the pictures Jennifer.

My friend Jennifer hard at work! © All rights reserved

Assembling the doubles and wrapping it  © All rights reserved

If you are interested in learning more about doubles including it's history,you can do so here

So go ahead and enjoy your doubles while in T&T,but make sure and follow these safety tips below when  purchasing them:

• Take a look around and check if the doubles vendor is situated in a clean area free from rubbish,stagnant water and stray animals.They and their carts should also look clean and neat.

• Avoid vendors that handle the bara with their hands.They should use a thongs when assembling your doubles.Handling food and money with the same hands is a big no no

• An official food and safety badge from the Government should be displayed on their person or cart

• Check to see if there is a clean supply of water close by for customers to wash their hands.Some vendors may provide a hand sanitizer which is also good.

• If there are a few doubles vendors together in the same area and some of them have little or no customers while others have a lot,there may be a good reason for this,so take that into consideration.

Keep these tips in mind not only for doubles,but for any other street foods you may purchase in Trinidad as well as in other parts of the world.Can you think of any other tips to add to mine?  Please share them with us if you can :)

I have a couple of food designs I created for products in my store For example this one I call 'Kiss de Cook' which you can see here on a t-shirt and another one I call 'Trini Foods' seen here on an apron.These designs can be found on lots of different products,not just the two I mentioned.Please have a look at them and tell me what you think! If making a purchase,use the coupon codes at checkout to get great savings.The code can be found at the top of every page.

Thanks for taking the time to read my doubles post.Comments and questions are welcome as always.Have a good day and see you again!