Ann's Blog
Trinidad:
November 20, 2009
A Taste of France in Trinidad
Last night was the third Thursday of November – when the year’s production of Beaujolais Nouveau is released in France and celebrated around the world….including in Trinidad (returning after several years absence). Barb on Tusen Takk II arranged tickets for the event, which was held at the Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute. Located right down the road from us in Chaguaramas, the TTHTI is a slight detour off the main maxi route, one that the drivers are happy to make for an extra $1 (33 cents US). Having been on many maxis that detoured there, we were well acquainted with its exterior: surrounded by an elegant wrought-iron fence whose gates spell out “Trinidad and Tobago Hospitality and Tourism Institute.” But negating the welcome implied by the name, the elegant fence is topped with coils of razor wire.
The party, held in a courtyard, attracted an upscale, well-dressed crowd with a different feel than the typical Trini fete. The hosts were the Alliance Française, the French Embassy in TnT, the International Wine Guild, and the TTHTI’s Culinary Arts Management students (the institute’s first BSc students).
Two of the Trini students quietly mimed their way amongst the guests, younger versions of Marcel Marceau. The music was also quiet – so much in the background as to be almost unnoticeable (very un-Trini) – and the food was also decidedly different from the typical Trini event: No corn soup or bake and shark here, and there wasn’t a Carib or Stag in sight. The culinary students had produced an array of hors d’oeuvres that helped show the freely poured two-month-old Beaujolais to excellent advantage. Miniature glass bowls of mushroom mousse served with long sculptural lengths of flatbread for scooping, skewers of grilled chicken, elegant little canapés, imported cheeses, and a pâté that had the pork-o-philes raving. Steve happily reported that the culinary students were slicing and serving it in thick, meatloaf-like slabs. Now that is Trini.
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