Urban Nightlife and Food

"Late Night Munchies"

When people leave fancy night clubs and hunger kicks in people seek late night eating establishments such as “The Cross” in San Fernando or on Aripita Avenue to fulfil their 3:00 a.m. snacking needs.  Such places serve food until closing, leaving their patrons satisfied with greasy favourites such as Buffalo wings, burgers, fries, gyros and local favourites of corn soup and doubles. Trinidadians take their entertainment seriously and the multitude of nightclubs and lounges, bars, multi-level VIP clubs with dazzling lights and sizzling cocktails, shows exactly how serious a business partying is to Trinidadians. 

The above pictures were taken at the WTF lounge and restaurant in San Fernando (left) and the Point-a-Pierre main road Marabella (right) and outlines various ways in which Food may be presented in Urban areas at night. Nightlife in Trinidad has grown over the past years to meet the growing demand of the cosmopolitan population that have grown more affluent. The owners of Nightclubs have designed the ‘full package’ of nightlife experience to keep patrons entertained all night long. Similar to this is the way in which other small business owners of food establishments have seen the opportunity to open late night establishments in these urban areas that are set up near to nightclubs. This type of food catering is geared specifically towards patrons that are out partying late at night and by extension those that also go out for late night drives just to obtain food. It is seen as a somewhat urban culture of the younger generation generally between ages ranging from eighteen to thirty-five. What people eat is heavily influenced by their families and also their culture. Different cuisines are connected to different cultures. Urban Social nightlife can be viewed as a culture and food as a feature of this type of culture is alive present in Trinidad and Tobago. Some social scientists have even gone as far as saying that food is the key to anybody’s culture (Macpherson 1999) and by just identifying what people eat some general assumption can be made about said persons and even the food, for example if a particular food is spicy, or if it is eaten separate or shared on the same dish. Food and social nightlife in urban areas are intrinsically linked and these highlighted are just a few of a very broad topic.

References:

Macpherson, Catherine. Food & culture. Owatonna, MN: Learning Zone Express, 1999.