Breakfast shed cooks

We have to wonder why those fifteen or so extra-ordinarily good cooks who ran stalls at the Breakfast Shed on Wrightson Road did not see the need to form themselves into a cooperative. Did it ever occur to them to house their business in better, more sanitary conditions and in a more permanent building? Over the years, the cooks at the Breakfast Shed have developed a name for themselves as purveyors of excellent tasty Trini food, dished up in large hearty servings and at a price well within the means of a clientele that came from far and wide and included management and workers from both public and private sectors.

Now faced with the closure of the building to make way for a $1.2 billion waterfront complex they have found themselves in the unfortunate position of nowhere to go, except to go out of business unless Government finds them a place. The Breakfast Shed is arguably one of Port-of-Spain’s oldest eating places, starting off, since the first half of the last century at Edward Street (where Textel now stands) and moving to its present site on Wrightson Road.  It was always on the cards that this was a temporary accomodation and it would have to move eventually to make way for future port development.

For several decades the cooks of the Shed have provided breakfast and lunch for a broad range of customers from all income groups including visitors.  It was unique not only in its atmosphere where the food was either cooked as customers ordered, or just freshly made and waiting to be served.  And above all the dishes were “home cooked.” We hope that somehow this truly unique service will not die.  Already we have lost the accra and float and souse and black pudding vendors, their places taken by the ever growing American fast food chains that now dot our landscape. Many factors have contributed to the success of these food chains. Ease of accessibility is one.

Speed is another as busy people no longer have the desire or the time and prefer to virtually eat on the run grabbing a hamburger, a box of chicken and chips or a pizza. A third reason for the success of the fast food chains is that they maintain their outlets in a standard, which, while a far cry from elite dining places, is still moderately acceptable. We hope that the business of the Breakfast Shed can still be turned into a viable commercial enterprise which would enable the cooks, whether they form themselves into a cooperative or an otherwise joint venture, to access space in a strategically located building, market themselves effectively and lay the ground work for expansion. The Breakfast Shed is too unique a service to be allowed to die.