Venezuelan women on street-food hustle


Venezuelans Diannis Herrera and Carol Romero wait for customers to arrive to buy coffee and empanadas in Chaguanas. Herrera has a food badge and sells the empanadas which Romero makes along with the coffee and drinks  she supplies. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE
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Venezuelans Diannis Herrera and Carol Romero wait for customers to arrive to buy coffee and empanadas in Chaguanas. Herrera has a food badge and sells the empanadas which Romero makes along with the coffee and drinks she supplies. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE -

When Diannis Herrera arrived in TT from her home in Venezuela on June 4, 2019, she never thought that thanks to a simple cup of coffee, hers would be a recognisable face in Chaguanas.

Herrera, of course, needed a job to survive and to help her family. Unable to find a permanent one, she had to become creative and resourceful.

“We Venezuelans like street food, sharing breakfast with friends, talking or having hot black coffee early in the morning before going to work,” she said.

It's even customary, in Venezuela, to find a coffee vendor with several thermoses on every street, something uncommon here in TT.

"Five months ago I decided to buy the container, glasses and go out on the streets just to sell black coffee," Herrera explained.

She starts her day at 5 am, making coffee in the rented apartment where she lives with her husband and 11-year-old daughter.

Food vendor Diannis Herrera pours coffee for a customer in Chaguanas. Carol Romero, in the background, sells empanadas. The Venezuelan women sell coffee and meat-filled pies in the central borough every day. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE -

"At 6 am I leave my home to walk through downtown Chaguanas until I reach Southern Main Road, where I normally sell," she said.

Every day she sells between 30 and 35 cups of coffee, at $5 per cup.

“At the beginning it was a bit hard. Even though I have my legal documents, there have been some local people who offended me. But I thought of my family and that gave me strength to move forward.

"Now not only Venezuelans buy my coffee, but many Trinidadians are surprised and come by me and leave happy,” she said.

Afterwards she moves on to her second job of the day: selling bottled water at the Andrews Street light for the rest of the morning.

Since Herrera began selling her coffee, Southern Main Road in Chaguanas has become a Venezuelan gastronomic centre.You can find Carol Romero there, selling empanadas. Romero is an experienced cook; before coming to TT, she worked for six years in the kitchen of the port of La Guaira, Venezuela.

Carol Romero places an empanada in a bag for a customer in Chaguanas. PHOTO BY ANGELO MARCELLE -

“The sale of food in the streets has become a new form of income in Venezuela and from there (comes) the idea of doing the same here in Trinidad,” said Romero.

Every day she wakes up at 3 am to make beef, chicken and fish empanadas, the favourites not only of Venezuelans, but also of Trinidadians. She sells between 30 and 40 empanadas from Monday to Sunday.

But it has not been easy.

“I have been in Trinidad since November 15, 2018, alone without my three children, whom I carry in my thoughts every day to have enough strength to endure the sun, the rain and even the bad words that some people say to me,” she said.

Ruth Palatz and her 14-year-old daughter also sell Venezuelan street food. Palatz, a chef, cooks a little of everything that is eaten in Venezuela.

After having lived in Venezuela and Chile she decided to come to TT in 2018.

“I worked in a restaurant, but due to the covid19 quarantine, the business closed and I couldn't sit idly by. I started to make cakes, palmeritas, cachitos, puff pastry, among other sweets that Venezuelans like so much, and I offered them through social networks,” she said.

With a large number of customers, Palatz thought of doing something bigger, so with the support of her daughter and the owner of the house where she lives, she opened a hot dog and hamburger stand that she calls Doggy Dog, on Montrose Main Road .

Ruth Palatz operates a food stall Doggy Dogg on the Chaguanas Main Road, selling hot dogs, hamburgers and other Venezuelan street food. PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB
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“We continue to make sweets to order, we also offer them in the business, and we make hamburgers and hot dogs Venezuelan-style,” Palatz said.

From 4 am Palatz prepares her ingredients and at 4 pm she opens the business.

"Sales right now are a bit low, but it is normal due to the pandemic and because we are just making ourselves known. The good thing is that Trinidadians themselves are already coming to buy and try our flavour," said Palatz.

Since they have registration cards, the vendors got food badges from the Chaguanas Borough Corporation.

For Herrera, it has been a blessing and a personal achievement to have the badge.

“It is a simple process. At the Chaguanas Borough Corporation they gave me a form, a doctor did the tests and I gave the other requirements (work permit, proof of residence and photo). And they scheduled me to attend a talk. After the talk, it took approximately 15 days for the permit to be delivered, ” Herrera explained.

Herrera and Palatz have had their food badges for several months. Romero is working on the paperwork to get one. For now, Herrera sells Romero's dishes while she waits for her application to be approved.

Ruth Palatz sells sweet delicacies at her Doggy Dogg as well as hot dogs at her stall in Chaguanas. PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB
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These three Venezuelan women are among many immigrants who are bringing their culinary culture to the streets of TT.

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