Resumen de Roti and Doubles as Comfort Foods for the Trinidadian Diaspora in Canada, the United States, and Britain

Dwaine Plaza

• Using data collected from a non-random electronic survey of (N=116) Trinidadian origin men and women and data gleaned from a content analysis of roti shop websites on the Internet (n=80). This paper examines how the Trinidadian diaspora currently residing in places like New York, Toronto or London�s are influenced by their early food socialization which produces a long lasting memory for roti and doubles. Roti and doubles often becomes a linking object associated with significant memories and events that are positive from back �home.� Regular consumption of a store bought or homemade roti and doubles in diaspora locations, often gives Trinidadian migrants a temporary good feeling of all that they are mourning from back �home.� Roti and doubles have also become cultural objects that satisfy a �hunger� and yearning Trinidadians have for a temporary gastronomic passage to back �home�.