These two islands comprise one country that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. The local cuisine blends the gastronomic influences of many cultures including Chinese, Indian and African while also offering distinct traditional fare.

“Bake and shark” is a local dish of deep-fried shark served between slices of fried “bake,” or dough, and topped with a choice of condiments including pineapple, tomato, cucumber and tamarind, garlic or pepper sauces. For the adventurous, souse comprises boiled pig trotters or chicken feet served chilled in a salty brine with cucumber, pepper, onion and fresh lime. Curry is also popular with such dishes as curried duck, goat or chicken, often cooked on the riverbank in iron pots over open fires and served with roti flatbread. Dasheen pork is a Chinese-inspired dish that originated in Trinidad using the ground tuber dasheen to richly season pork.

Desserts include rum cake and bananas and mangos in coconut milk. Local drinks are ginger beer, fruit punches and mauby, a cocktail made with mauby bark, cinnamon and star anise.—Leska Tomash