Dinner Time!

Urban areas have within them zones of leisure and nightlife (Grazian, 2009). Both of which (amongst others) provides a market for the food industry and night.

The city of Port of Spain at night is equally lively as the day. While the rural areas sleep, the city’s nights are geared up with ‘local pump’ as people engage in social activities that help them relax at the end of a long day or week. It is not filled with shoppers, commuters and workers as during the day. Instead, it is filled with people who are trying to access the various services that the urban nights have to offer. Food is a major hit!

At night the Avenue is crawling with people who have come to enjoy the liming experience. But, the Avenue does not only have bars and clubs but it is well known for its diversity of food and fine dining. There are many different restaurants that offer an array of cuisine for the different tongues that come to partake. Fancy restaurants such as MoreVino/More Sushi and Angelo’s (first photo) are just two of the many there is to choose from at the Avenue.  To read more click on the link: Discover Trinidad and Tobago

Angelo's, Ariapita Avenue.

Food vendors in the Queen' Park Savannah

The second photo is showing the various street foods that are available during the night on the Queens Park Savannah. These foods all include doubles (third photo), corn soup, burgers/hot dogs, coconuts and juices. There are street foods throughout the town during the day but there is a greater concentration of vendors at these areas during the day. A documentary on a local television station interviewed a juice vendor who said that he sells during the late night hours because he gets his sale from people liming in and around the city.

Doubles on Ariapta Avenue

As with the day, the urban area is filled with fast food restaurants that offer quick and affordable food. The forth picture shows KFC at Independence Square. This particular outlet opens 24/7. Regardless of their opening hours they still constitute a large percent of the sales during the night. After work people might just drop in to buy a quick dinner or after liming they may just want something to eat. Whatever the reason for their economic prowess, they heavily contribute to the culture of the urban nights.

KFC Independence Square

Port of Spain is one of those Caribbean cities that can attract tourists with its nightlife and cuisine alone.

As with every feature of the urban area, there are current issues with street food culture. Not only do they have problems with the authority for selling in the various places but they also have little disagreements among themselves. The link below is a humorous animation which exaggerates the vending disagreements but serves to illustrate that there is issues between the vendors themselves. 

References:
Discover Trinidad and Tobago (2014)   Retrieved on March 3^rd, 2015 from http://www.discovertnt.com/articles/Trinidad/Ariapita-Avenue#axzz3S8qrbcxx

Grazian, David (2009) Urban Nightlife, Social Capital, and the Public Life of Cities. Sociological Forum 24.4, 908-917. Accessed March 2^nd, 2015 from http://works.bepress.com/david_grazian/11