Young and Hungry

The penultimate major factor to be considered in the urban diversification of Chaguanas is the impact of globalization. This is analyzed through the use of food outlets throughout the central business district of Chaguanas. It can be noticed that there is a disparity between local and foreign food outlets, where the latter is more frequented than the former. Food is one of the indicators of westernization where a lot of the food preferences in Trinidad are more geared towards a foreign palette. It can also be noticed than the foods which have been brought to the Caribbean and Trinidad, specifically, have adapted the spices and flavours which are most prominent. This can be termed as acculturation, which involves the interaction of two cultures which cause subsequent changes on both sides. Acculturation is one of the two aspects of creolisation which is a major process of the globalization of Trinidadian society and the Caribbean as a whole. 

Photograph 1, taken by Kristen Goseine with Canon EOS REBEL T3i/EOS 600D. (Date taken: 30/03/15)

The two cultures interacting here is not between ethnic groups (Adekunle et al, 2011) but with local Caribbean culture and the western culture. This interaction is what creates the shift from preference of local brands to foreign food brands. The presence and increasing popularity of the international food brands allows for the introduction of Caribbean essence to the foods, for example with KFC where local spices are used to enhance the taste. 

Photograph 2, taken by Kristen Goseine with Canon EOS REBEL T3i/EOS 600D. (Date taken: 30/03/15)

In Chaguanas local food places include Redd's, Marios, Pizza Boys, Darwish Arabian and Local Cuisine, Medford's Grill and Anisa Roti Shop. Whereas, the foreign food places include KFC, Pizza Hut, Domino's Pizza, TGI Friday's, Ruby Tuesdays and Subway. The appearance of these places differ greatly between the foreign and local. The foreign places are much cleaner, well-kept and more aesthetically appealing when compared to the local places. For instance, TGI Friday's was recently renovated as can be seen in the photograph. These foreign places are more dominant throughout the urban area where the customers of the local places are monopolized forcing them to go out of business. An example of this would be the local ice cream store which was closed down and is now a mobile phone store called Cellular Corner (Photograph 2: Bottom Right). There was even the opening of a $40 million Chuck E. Cheese along the fringe of the CBD, which is a North American franchise. While there is the domination of the foreign food places, there are still some local places which continue to thrive such as Marios as well as Rituals Coffee House. The success of these businesses is attributed to their adaptation of western culture where they emulate a global franchise, Starbucks Coffee Company. It can be noticed, however, that they did not get into any confrontation with Starbucks, because there is no Starbucks in Trinidad. This cannot be said for Louis Huang in the ABC television series "Fresh off the Boat."

References

Adekunle, Bamidele, Glen Filson, Sridharan Sethuratnam, and Dario Cidro. 2011. 'Acculturation And Consumption: Examining The Consumption Behavior Of People Of Afro-Caribbean Descent In Canada'. Journal Of Agriculture, Food Systems, And Community Development, 297-313. doi:10.5304/jafscd.2011.021.001.

Boodan, Shastri. 2014. '$40M Chuck E Cheese Opens In Chaguanas'. Trinidad And Tobago Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.tt/business/2014-07-18/40m-chuck-e-cheese-opens-chaguanas.

Visual Politics,. 2009. Globalization: You're Living IT. Video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2Sei7F61U8.

Wikipedia,. 2015. 'Fresh Off The Boat'. Accessed April 10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_Off_the_Boat.