The origins of Neale’s Sweet N’ Nice ice cream date to 1940, in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. Charles Alfred Neale biked around the city during long summer days, selling his one-of-a-kind coconut ice cream recipe — made with fresh and locally sourced ingredients, a “premium” coconut milk mix and no artificial flavours.
The extra creamy consistency and generous proportions led to an explosion of demand for his premium ice cream and it soon became a household name. More than 80 years later, his family’s commitment to honouring his legacy has landed Neale’s Sweet N’ Nice on the shelves of major supermarkets like Metro, No Frills, Sobeys, and Foodland in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, keeping Neale’s recipe alive long after his death in the late 1980s.
Neale’s is one of many businesses successfully cementing a platform for ethnic flavours in Canada for generations to come.
In 2013, cousins Andrew McBarnett and Stafford Attsz, were reminiscing about their grandfather’s glory days selling ice cream. They approached their aunt, Neale’s daughter, Rosemarie Wilson, who knew the recipe and would often serve it during family reunions. Wilson eventually became a co-founder and primary producer in Neale’s Sweet N’ Nice, which in the beginning was an entirely do-it-yourself type of endeavour based in Oshawa.
“We started by purchasing an ice cream machine, printing out labels, getting the entire family together, and just wrapping containers for a week,” recalled McBarnett.
“I think overall, we all had the same vision: to bring premium homemade Caribbean flavours that just weren’t available before in the Greater Toronto Area.”
Early on, the ice cream was sold in independent ethnic grocery stores in the GTA. In 2015, the company earned a spot on CBC’s venture capitalist show, “Dragons’ Den.” Though no deal emerged from being on the show, the publicity served as Neale’s official “coming out” in the Canadian dessert game.
Wilson was initially unsure if their ice cream business would fare well in Canada, but as the brand, which features flavours such as coconut, mango, guava and passion fruit, started hitting more shelves, she was amazed by the support that Neale’s received.
“I always knew there was a strong Jamaican community in the GTA, but I had no idea how large a Trinidadian contingent we have,” she said.
“I was getting personal calls at home from people who just wanted to talk. They’d tell me: ‘I remember you from San Fernando, yes, yes, yes. I just want to talk about the common heritage and the common bond!’ ”
She recalled a recent call from a Trinidadian gentleman who found their product in Sobeys and described his immediate sense of recognition and pride.
“That kind of connection inspires you to do more and to keep on going,” Wilson said.
Starting in 2018, Neale’s began moving into grocery chains mostly in Ontario. An expansion to stores in Montreal and Richmond, B.C., soon followed.
Last year began with plans to increase Neale’s national presence and debut in Loblaws stores, but the pandemic set the debut back and introduced new issues for the founders.
McBarnett and Wilson soon discovered “their supply chain was broken” — they could no longer source their natural ingredients on the timelines they were used to.
Wilson explained how because of halts in trade, several suppliers could not sell their ingredients at the same pace as before. To combat this, Neale’s started manufacturing according to availability of products instead of demand.
“For example, if it will take me six weeks or two months to get something, then when we actually get it, we say, ‘we might as well increase how much we manufacture,’ ” Wilson said.
Neale’s went from manufacturing 200 cases every four weeks to a 1,000, which may have worked to its advantage, as despite an ongoing lockdown, the demand for Neale’s ice cream surged. This was in part due to more consumers adopting a buy-local approach during the pandemic and in part due to increased sentiment to buy from Black-owned businesses after George Floyd’s death led to a global reckoning on anti-Black racism.
“I thought about how when I started Kingsdale, and I went to every institution in this country, and they all turned me down,” Hall said. “Eventually, I was able to get someone in a bank who looked like me, believed in me and was able to pull some strings to help me.
“I just knew I had to help.”
Wilson and McBarnett often worry about their business becoming “boxed in.”
Though the brand is rooted in offering a taste of their childhood and Caribbean heritage, the ice cream resonates with people from all over. McBarnett says they have had people from places like Portugal and South America, tell them the ice cream reminds them of home.
“This is way beyond the Caribbean,” he said. “It’s wherever these types of fruits are. Like Malaysia or wherever people are tasting our ice cream and remembering their childhood.” 
Rhythm Sachdeva is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star’s radio room in Toronto.
Source:  Toronto Star, April 12, 2021

Young farmer Kyle Rampart has a passion for planting and spends every spare moment on his family's parcel of land at Manzanilla.
Unlike his peers who are often glued to cellphones, tablets and other electronic devices, the 12-year-old isn't afraid of getting his hands dirty or sweating under the sun.
Kyle a standard two student of Mayaro Government Primary School, not only grows healthy crops of different varieties of watermelons, he also practises a healthy lifestyle by staying away from certain snacks.
"I like farming, it is a dirty job, but food makes people happy, and I like to be happy too. I play a little, but I prefer to run through the land," he said during an interview at the garden on Thursday.
Kyle, who lives in Paradise Village, Mayaro, may be small in stature but his ambitions are huge.
Every weekend, evenings after school, and even on festive holidays he can be found on the land preparing the land, planting crops or helping harvesting.
Not only is he willing to learn from his father about farming, he too educates himself about new methods of planting and caring for crops and willingly shares his knowledge with customers.
​

I often have to explain the different types of watermelons we sell at my father's business. We have red, yellow, blue and orange varieties. I can spot the melons by looking at the skin."
He believes in the slogan plant what you eat and loves his mother's cooking, especially her watermelon smoothies.
"When you plant, you know what you're eating. When you buy food you don't know and they can put all kind of things in it and you might get sick."
On a broader scale, Rampart thinks this country can grow more food to help reduce the number of products it imports and plans to become a full-time farmer in the future.
"I love agriculture and I think the Minister of Agriculture Clarence Rambharat has a lot of work to do. There is a lot of land for me to plant, somebody has to get dirty, we don't need a minister if it don't have food."
Kyle, the eldest of three siblings, has hope that a day will come when he and many other farmers can plant enough to feed the country and reduce the food import bill. He believes farmers can produce more.
His parents, Vashtie and Curtis, are proud and happy with their son's natural caring and helpful spirit.
Curtis explained, "Kyle is a very had working child, we do have some challenges with his academics so my wife, Vashtie, spends extra time with him so that there is a balance. His grades at school fluctuates between B and C."
He said his children's education was their first priority and thinks a combination of academics and first-hand knowledge of farming "is priceless."
​
Curtis said his eldest son began showing an interest in farming from a young age and was a natural leader. So much so, he can leave his son to supervise the workers on the farm under the guidance of his wife.
He encouraged other parents to support "whatever is their child's passion and help them find the balance."
"Whatever is their desire, the passion will follow."
Kyle's advice to other children who may be thinking about getting into farming was that like many other jobs it was hard work.
"You must first love it, don't be afraid to get dirt on your hands."
In addition to farming, Kyle loves sports, such as football and hard ball cricket which he plays with his father, whom he described as his role model.
Source: Newsday, March 14, 2021

On a recent trip to Trinidad, English brewer Phil Saltonstall was introduced to some of the best tasting chocolate in the world, made, of course, from trinitario cocoa beans. So, naturally, he did what he does best – he made a beer out of it.
“If you’re a brewer you look for flavour pairings in the world that exist already and you just put them in the beer,” Saltonstall told Business Day in a telephone call last week.
The first batch of Saltonstall’s Brass Castle Brewery’s Trinitario chocolate stout was canned just over two weeks ago and it’s already proved popular.
“I have to ringfence a couple so I can send it to Trinidad or else it’ll be gone,” he chuckled.
The beer is, of course, named after the eponymous cocoa variety that originated in Trinidad in the late 17th century. Trinitario, a natural hybrid of the forastero and criollo varieties, is considered one of the world’s finest-flavoured cocoas. The Trinidad Fine Cocoa Company, with which Saltonstall consulted, advised him on using trinitario cocoa shells and nibs to enhance the already chocolatey flavours that naturally occur in dark beer. (He was introduced to them through his wife, British High Commissioner Harriet Cross.)
“We have done a chocolate beer before, but we’ve done it with cocoa powder – and probably not very good cocoa powder. It was meant to be like a Black Forest gateau, with cherries and chocolate. It was really nice and chocolatey, with the cherries, and that was cool.
“I have since been educated to the fact that Trinidad has the best chocolate in the world, and making that connection with TT fine cocoa caused me to understand that I can use cocoa better – that I shouldn’t just be using powder, I should be using cocoa nibs and cocoa shells. So they effectively enhanced my process.
"And they also kindly explained that Trinidad has the best chocolate in the world, and if I want to have a real chocolate beer (this is the stuff to use).”
Different types of grain and malt (sprouted grain) can give some very gentle chocolate flavours, Saltonstall explained.
“You have to look for them, but they are there. What most brewers do is, they will add a chocolate flavouring or essence or something like that. But when I had the option to have some of the best chocolate in the world, that’s obviously (better).”
Brass Castle tries to make its base as chocolatey as possible and then overlay that with the fine cocoa nibs during the fermentation and conditioning phases.
“The finished beer is very luscious and chocolatey and doesn’t have any of those fake aspects, and that’s all testament to how good the cocoa and chocolate that we’ve used (are).”
Beer is made from fermenting cereal grains. The first step is creating a mash, where the grains are mixed with water to form the base liquid and release the sugars that will eventually ferment. Usually, rice husks are used as process aid, preventing the mash from turning into a porridge consistency that needs to be thrown out.
​

But, Saltonstall was pleased to discover, cocoa shells did the same job and imbued the mash with a rich chocolate flavour.
“It’s cool, because I didn’t realise that cocoa shells are just kind of thrown away because they’re no good for chocolate, but actually there’s still flavour there, so they are quite good in the mashing process and brewing.”
The next phases – fermentation and conditioning – are when the nibs, shelled cocoa seeds broken into pieces that have a deep, rich cocoa flavour, are added to the mix to really bring create that chocolatey, beery goodness.
Brass Castle is based in the town of Moulton in North Yorkshire. A few miles away is the city of York, which Saltonstall said has a history of being in the chocolate trade.
“I talked to chocolatiers in the town and they are totally thrilled that we are doing something with trinitario cocoa nibs, because they get it. They know how good the nibs are and they know that it’s in relatively short supply.
"It's lovely to see them get enthusiastic and passionate about it, and hopefully drinkers will get the same effect.”
Saltonstall has not yet tapped into the huge Caribbean diaspora in the UK – covid19 restrictions have made that difficult at the moment, so the usual avenues, like bars, restaurants and even Notting Hill Carnival have been restricted. He’s interested in looking into it, though, and even directly reaching out to some high-profile Trinis and sending them some of the beer.
“In normal times this would be obvious and it would be nice to get the feedback from the diaspora.”
Brass Castle is a small craft brewery, so it produces about 4,000 440ml cans of beer at a time. He’s all but used up his initial 25-kg supply of shells and nibs in production, so he’s actively researching how to import a supply.
“I was lucky because I was able to transport this back from Trinidad myself, but I’m now talking to people who can ship it. I’m told shipping is pretty straightforward because (despite covid19 restrictions) commerce is still working and goods are still transiting. So my understanding is that getting hold of some more is not problematic.
"Of course, everything is slightly more difficult now but getting more nibs and shells is not (impossible).”
He’s excited to start back production, though, and already envisions the beer being a regular offering. It’s on sale at the brewery and online, as well as some shops. It also proved to be a surprise Valentine’s Day hit, with lots of orders coming in before February 14. He also hopes to be able to send some soon to Trinidad – and maybe get a new supply of nibs in return.
And as far as he’s concerned, even though some people might see chocolate stout as a dessert drink, the beer will go with anything. “People drink and eat what they like to eat. I know there’s a whole host of people who would want to drink it all the time.”
The labelling. though, is reminiscent of a chocolate bar in the colours of the TT flag.
“I might change the packaging at some point, but I hope that the name and the look are simple enough for people to understand quickly what it is, but also for people who know to appreciate that it’s a Trinidadian beer with Trinidadian ingredients.” Source: Newsday Feb 2021

​On a recent trip to Trinidad, English brewer Phil Saltonstall was introduced to some of the best tasting chocolate in the world, made, of course, from trinitario cocoa beans. So, naturally, he did what he does best – he made a beer out of it.
“If you’re a brewer you look for flavour pairings in the world that exist already and you just put them in the beer,” Saltonstall told Business Day in a telephone call last week.
The first batch of Saltonstall’s Brass Castle Brewery’s Trinitario chocolate stout was canned just over two weeks ago and it’s already proved popular.
“I have to ringfence a couple so I can send it to Trinidad or else it’ll be gone,” he chuckled.
The beer is, of course, named after the eponymous cocoa variety that originated in Trinidad in the late 17th century. Trinitario, a natural hybrid of the forastero and criollo varieties, is considered one of the world’s finest-flavoured cocoas. The Trinidad Fine Cocoa Company, with which Saltonstall consulted, advised him on using trinitario cocoa shells and nibs to enhance the already chocolatey flavours that naturally occur in dark beer. (He was introduced to them through his wife, British High Commissioner Harriet Cross.)
“We have done a chocolate beer before, but we’ve done it with cocoa powder – and probably not very good cocoa powder. It was meant to be like a Black Forest gateau, with cherries and chocolate. It was really nice and chocolatey, with the cherries, and that was cool.
“I have since been educated to the fact that Trinidad has the best chocolate in the world, and making that connection with TT fine cocoa caused me to understand that I can use cocoa better – that I shouldn’t just be using powder, I should be using cocoa nibs and cocoa shells. So they effectively enhanced my process.
"And they also kindly explained that Trinidad has the best chocolate in the world, and if I want to have a real chocolate beer (this is the stuff to use).”
Different types of grain and malt (sprouted grain) can give some very gentle chocolate flavours, Saltonstall explained.
“You have to look for them, but they are there. What most brewers do is, they will add a chocolate flavouring or essence or something like that. But when I had the option to have some of the best chocolate in the world, that’s obviously (better).”
Brass Castle tries to make its base as chocolatey as possible and then overlay that with the fine cocoa nibs during the fermentation and conditioning phases.
“The finished beer is very luscious and chocolatey and doesn’t have any of those fake aspects, and that’s all testament to how good the cocoa and chocolate that we’ve used (are).”
Beer is made from fermenting cereal grains. The first step is creating a mash, where the grains are mixed with water to form the base liquid and release the sugars that will eventually ferment. Usually, rice husks are used as process aid, preventing the mash from turning into a porridge consistency that needs to be thrown out.
Brass Castle Brewery's Trinitario chocolate stout, made, of course, from TT's trinitario cocoa beans. -
But, Saltonstall was pleased to discover, cocoa shells did the same job and imbued the mash with a rich chocolate flavour.
“It’s cool, because I didn’t realise that cocoa shells are just kind of thrown away because they’re no good for chocolate, but actually there’s still flavour there, so they are quite good in the mashing process and brewing.”
The next phases – fermentation and conditioning – are when the nibs, shelled cocoa seeds broken into pieces that have a deep, rich cocoa flavour, are added to the mix to really bring create that chocolatey, beery goodness.
Brass Castle is based in the town of Moulton in North Yorkshire. A few miles away is the city of York, which Saltonstall said has a history of being in the chocolate trade.
“I talked to chocolatiers in the town and they are totally thrilled that we are doing something with trinitario cocoa nibs, because they get it. They know how good the nibs are and they know that it’s in relatively short supply.
"It's lovely to see them get enthusiastic and passionate about it, and hopefully drinkers will get the same effect.”
Saltonstall has not yet tapped into the huge Caribbean diaspora in the UK – covid19 restrictions have made that difficult at the moment, so the usual avenues, like bars, restaurants and even Notting Hill Carnival have been restricted. He’s interested in looking into it, though, and even directly reaching out to some high-profile Trinis and sending them some of the beer.
“In normal times this would be obvious and it would be nice to get the feedback from the diaspora.”
Brass Castle is a small craft brewery, so it produces about 4,000 440ml cans of beer at a time. He’s all but used up his initial 25-kg supply of shells and nibs in production, so he’s actively researching how to import a supply.
“I was lucky because I was able to transport this back from Trinidad myself, but I’m now talking to people who can ship it. I’m told shipping is pretty straightforward because (despite covid19 restrictions) commerce is still working and goods are still transiting. So my understanding is that getting hold of some more is not problematic.
"Of course, everything is slightly more difficult now but getting more nibs and shells is not (impossible).”
He’s excited to start back production, though, and already envisions the beer being a regular offering. It’s on sale at the brewery and online, as well as some shops. It also proved to be a surprise Valentine’s Day hit, with lots of orders coming in before February 14. He also hopes to be able to send some soon to Trinidad – and maybe get a new supply of nibs in return.
And as far as he’s concerned, even though some people might see chocolate stout as a dessert drink, the beer will go with anything. “People drink and eat what they like to eat. I know there’s a whole host of people who would want to drink it all the time.”
The labelling. though, is reminiscent of a chocolate bar in the colours of the TT flag.
“I might change the packaging at some point, but I hope that the name and the look are simple enough for people to understand quickly what it is, but also for people who know to appreciate that it’s a Trinidadian beer with Trinidadian ingredients.” https://newsday.co.tt/.../british-brewer-infuses-beer.../

​Since the early 70s, Keith 'Jumbo' Martin has been a fixture at cricket matches selling nuts. He earned himself a reputation in the Queen's Park Oval for his accuracy in throwing packs of nuts to customers seated some distance away in the bleachers. Twenty years or so before Jumbo came on the scene, there was another well known nuts man nicknamed 'mile a minute'. This nuts vendor was a short, slim Chinese gentleman who used to walk around the Queen's Park Savannah at a brisk pace selling his peanuts.
Nuts have become a popular street food along the busy highways of our nation. The nut vendors are mostly found by the traffic lights on these highways hustling sales when the traffic is at a standstill. In case you are wondering, a pack of nuts (salted or fresh) cost $5, same price as a doubles.
Fun fact: ever see a nuts man shaking the pack of nuts? That's to tell if they are salted or fresh as the ones with salt make a noise when the grains move about in the bag. Source: Virtual Museum of TT , Feb 17,  2021

Laura Roberts-Nkrumah grew up in St. James, Trinidad and Tobago, a community rich with plant life.
“There were many fruit trees,” she says.
It was this proximity to nature’s bounty that fostered her early attraction to flora and food, an interest that would eventually lead to her outstanding career as a scientist, agriculturalist, educator and Caribbean pioneer in the study and cultivation of breadfruit.
Professor Roberts-Nkrumah is Professor of Crop Science and Production within the Department of Food Production at UWI St Augustine’s Faculty of Food and Agriculture (FFA). During her more than 30-year career she has trained many students in the science and production of various crops.
“My primary career goal as a member of academic staff, and former student of this faculty, was to make a difference, in at least in some small way, to the food and agriculture sector in the Caribbean. I have shared this goal with my students; their training at the FFA was about much more than certification; it was about capacity building for the development of our countries and region”, she says.
Professor Roberts-Nkrumah is most well-known for her work in breadfruit. She has raised the stature of this neglected and underutilised crop, which was traditionally important for food security in the Caribbean but stigmatised as ‘slave food’ and largely ignored by research. Her work includes expanding the range of cultivars (different varieties) in the region through importation, and establishing a germplasm collection at UWI St. Augustine Campus. The collection has been evaluated for growth, development, seasonality, yield, disease resistance, nutritional content and, more recently, there has been DNA characterisation. Studies have been conducted on propagation, orchard management, as well as on consumer acceptance, contribution to food security and farm income.
“Most persons are unaware that there are different types of breadfruit. This collection is an educational and research resource that is critical if the commercial potential of breadfruit for human nutrition, and for other methods of utilization, for example, medicine is to developed beyond its current level in T&T and the wider Caribbean”.
Based on her work in breadfruit, Professor Roberts-Nkrumah was commissioned to prepare a strategic plan for the development of a breadfruit and breadnut industry in St Kitts and Nevis. She initiated, secured external funding for, and co-convened the first International Breadfruit Conference, which was held in Trinidad and Tobago in 2015. She was also invited to contributeto a review chapter on breadfruit production for the prestigious publication, Horticultural Reviews.
“A number of new breadfruit products, as diverse as chips, wines and beauty products are already being produced on a commercial scale elsewhere. My greatest satisfaction would be the emergence of a sustainable breadfruit industry in the region based on innovative products, which is entirely possible with our people’s creativity. Support for multi-disciplinary research and consumer education will be two key requirements” 
Apart from her work in this area, Professor Roberts-Nkrumah is a pioneering woman in science, who for many years has operated at the highest level of her field. Data from UNESCO’s Institute for Statistics shows that less than 30 percent of the world’s researchers are women, and only around 30 percent of all female students select STEM-related fields in higher education. Recognising the importance of women in the sciences, the UN General Assembly made February 11 the annual International Day of Women and Girls in Science.
Professor Roberts-Nkrumah says many women inspired her own journey into the sciences, starting with her grandmother:
“She was recognised as a champion farmer in Tobago. My grandmother was an independent and strong woman who continued to farm even in her 70’s. I have fond memories of the delicious fruits, cocoa tea, and high quality cassava, sweet potatoes and pigeon peas that she grew and our family enjoyed.” 
She admires scientists such as Professor Margaret Sedley, a botanist, whose work was closely linked with the development of the avocado industry in Australia and Professor Ruth Oniang’o, a pioneer in food science and nutrition studies on indigenous crops in Kenya. She was most inspired in her career, however, by Professor Lawrence Wilson, a leader in research on tropical root crops at The UWI, who taught her at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
“I admired his insight and creativity as a scientist,” she says. “He instilled in me the significance of basic scientific knowledge for understanding crop physiology and addressing crop production issues.” 
Professor Roberts-Nkrumah’s legacy of work also includes outreach activities with crop producers and nurseries, and the general public throughout the Caribbean. Apart from providing hands-on training, several manuals and fact sheets have been made available, including manuals on breadfruit propagation and orchard management, which were commissioned by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and are available online. Her work has produced 117 publications, among which is a book titled The Breadfruit Germplasm Collection at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine Campus, a reference text for stakeholders in the breadfruit sector, from scientists, to growers, sellers and consumers. 
When asked about her career success, she credits her family life:
“I consider myself to have been blessed by my family background, which provided stability, focus, a high value on education, strong work ethic and strong Christian values. All of these and the commitment to service were reinforced at school.” 
As a wife, mother, and daughter, she has had to balance work with family life and responsibilities. This was not always a simple matter but unconditional support from her husband and children helped to make it possible.
“They have accompanied me in the field on many occasions,” she says. “As much as possible I limited my travelling for field research in the Caribbean to the school vacation period, when the family could also travel with me. This has paid dividends as I now see the children’s own gardening initiatives and hear them offering ‘on target’ advice to their peers.” 
Even though she is a scientist, as a young student Professor Roberts-Nkrumah loved English Literature as well. However, her desire for the outdoors pushed her towards science and agriculture. And though she has experienced numerous challenges during her career -- from the very limited scientific literature on breadfruit, to the difficulties of data collection in the field, to having to balance research with her heavy teaching load -- her work has revolutionised the breadfruit sector and has the potential to make a major impact on regional food security. Perhaps more importantly, she followed her passion, found her mission and built a career. 
“The application of science to food and agriculture is a most worthwhile endeavor. It’s about knowing what you were born to do. Focus, faith and willingness to work for the benefit of others, even with obstacles, will always be rewarding – “Non sine pulvere palmam” (Not without the dust the victory). Source:  UWI Campus News, Feb 15, 2021