Trinidadians, Dominicans and Grenadians are today (February 6) joining forces on Twitter to denounce Croatia-based online food publication, TasteAtlas, for its ranking of ‘bake and shark’, ‘oil dung’ and ‘callaloo’ among the ‘100 worst dishes in the world’. 

The food magazine, curating a list of ‘horrendous’ dishes globally as at February 2023, ranked the Grenadian national dish as the 20th worst across the world in a top 50 list published on its verified Twitter page on Friday.

To the shock and chagrin of Grenadians, oil dung, with a score of 2.4 out of five points, was one of three Caribbean meals that were included in TasteAtlas’ ‘menu of shame’.

Worst dishes in the world? Really? Take a look at the full list: https://t.co/35VJsvMI0T pic.twitter.com/1xBnr4Cjhm

— TasteAtlas (@TasteAtlas) February 3, 2023

Bake and shark, a traditional Trinbagonian fast food dish, was ranked 29th with a 2.5 taste score. What’s more, callaloo, a leafy green vegetable popular regionally, was attributed to Dominica. Callaloo was bestowed a rank of 47 and received a 2.6 score.

Atop the list was the Russian delicacy Indigirka salad— a “well-chilled appetiser of diced frozen fish that is combined with onions, oil, salt, and pepper”—which received a 1.4 score.

See below the 10 worst dishes in the world, according to Taste Atlas:

TasteAtlas’ rankings are somewhat of a puzzle, as on a visit to its website, no parameters were provided to demonstrate how the rankings are determined. 

In the meantime, it is safe to say the rankings have not been palatable to the Eastern Caribbean. 

Many Twitter users have accused TasteAtlas of being ‘racist’ for publishing ‘anti-Caribbean’ propaganda during Black History Month and denigrating the gastronomical diversity and pride of the three countries. 

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A staple of Trinbagonian cuisine, bake and shark is prepared using fried flatbread, shark meat and additional ingredients/seasonings. Also cooked with other variations of fish such as catfish and ray, bake and shark is typically served hot. 

Oil dung, the national dish of Grenada, is a one-pot meal of vegetables and breadfruit cooked in coconut milk. The dish has similarities to rundown in Jamaica, however, salted fish (saltfish/pickled or salted mackerel) varieties are used instead of vegetables.