Ladies and gentlemen, this is an important message from the New York City Police Department.

If you see a suspicious package or activity on the platform or train, do not keep it to yourself.

And clear of the closing doors, please?

Hey everyone, I'm Emmett L-Y Upber, and this is M-Train, a podcast miniseries by See Something, Say

Something, and Brick Radio.

The series focuses on New York City and features Muslim stories from around the metro area.

This week, we're telling the story of Caribbean and specifically Trinidadian halal food in

Brooklyn from roti to sorrel. Roti and sorrel are Brooklyn classics, I'd argue, just as important

to Muslim New York as the world famous halal cart. And those two foods tell the story of the

overlap between African and South Asian Muslim cultures in the Caribbean. So we went to a rotee shop and we also spoke to a fashion designer who makes bottles sorrow.

But first, let me tell you the story of the first time that I had roti.

It's 2015 and I've just moved to Crown Heights, a Caribbean, Jewish and black neighborhood

in Brooklyn.

I had moved to the city to start a career in media a year earlier and spent that period

scrounging for couches or spare bedrooms a month at a time living the hurried, cheap life of

someone feeling they lucked into a good job.

But finally things settled. I moved into an apartment with roommates of course

and finally I had a neighborhood to explore.

On the way to a Planet Fitness I paid $10 a month to use maybe twice a month.

I heard loud music from across the street.

I looked over and there was a line out the door from where the music was coming. The store was called Ali's Roti Shop. I racked my brain. I was like, oh yeah, this is a spot, isn't it? Who told me about it? And I remembered it was my cousin from Boston, Bassem. Bossam said, You've got to get the roti at Elise Roti shop.

I was confused. I was like, roti, in order to do that word just means bread? It's kind of like saying you have to go try the toast. But he explained. No, it's like a Trini thing. It's kind of Dasey, but kind of its own thing. I had never heard of it then, had never been exposed to Trini Food prior to New York.

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