‘Out of the Doubles Kitchen’

Out of the Doubles Kitchen, was written in commemoration of Deen’s father, Emamool Deen, also known as “Mamoo Deen,” who passed away in 1979 at the relatively young age of 62. It is the story of a family’s struggle and the story about being the son of a “doubles man” from Princes Town.

The book was launched on May,14, at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port-of-Spain as well as in New York.

Deen said, “The writing of this book led me on an inward journey that was therapeutic and cathartic. It bought me from behind the mask of anonymity, where I lived a double life for over five decades, to embrace my identity, finally, a son of the ‘Doublesman.’

It helped me to confront my demon of shame that was imposed on me in my impressionable years by bullies and society’s devalued status of the Doublesman.”

Speaking at the book launch, Deen said the book is the culmination of a journey that took 78 years to arrive from the plantations of Princess Town to the halls of NAPA.

He said, “Mamoo Dean and Rasulan Deen were direct descendants of the Indians who had first arrived here, 169 years ago, as indentured, agricultural workers on British owned plantations.”

According to the author, his parents were illiterate peasants who radically and innovatively escaped their social circumstances in an act of resistance, against the British colonial economic system of labour exploitation, subservience and poor living conditions.

The information in the book is based on the oral records, as related by his parents and their contemporaries, of the circumstances out of which Doubles emerged.

Deen said his research and video-taped interviews credibly, reliably, and compellingly corroborated the oral history. He said the project establishes his family’s innovation in indentureship cuisine, and registers their contribution to the nation of TT.

Deen noted that doubles, also known as the number one street food of TT, has been called “poor-people-food” yet has become a multi-million-dollar industry, regionally and internationally.

“CNN journalist Cara Reedy, a western American describes in her recent article that her enjoyment of doubles, which she discovered in New York, is now an obsession. The Thrillist website on March 3, placed Trinidad doubles in the top 28 must-eat sandwiches of the world,” Deen said.

“At the first glance the book’s title and cover image may give the impression to some that it is a recipe book on how to make doubles, but the only recipe given is a recipe of life... the lives of a people brought from a distant place into conditions of TT during a 72-year period from 1845 to 1917.”

Dean said Out of the Doubles Kitchen is a story of possibility that offers a universal lesson in believing in yourself. “Despite your circumstances you can rise above them and achieve your dreams,” he said

Deen used his father as an example and explained that when his father realised the job he was fantasising about did not exist, he decided to create it.

Deen said his father demonstrated that even if uneducated, persons can always use their basic common sense to set goals, work assiduously, and achieve favorable outcomes.

“Even though this immigrant story is my story, it is also your story...it is our own collective experience.

To the readers of this memoir, I hope it will be inspiring to read as it was to write,”

The book is to be available at book stores including Ishmael M Khan and Sons, Keith Khan Book Stores and their outlet at Piarco.