Mauritius

People often ask the question: “If you were stuck on a desert island and could only have one type of food, what would it be?” More often than not, my response generally involves something Chinese or Indian, and invariably contains seafood. Well recently, I had the pleasure of not only being stuck on a desert island, but also to be stuck on one which boasts a gastronomic blend of all the above.

Mauritius is a beautiful paradise born from centuries of diverse influence since the first Dutch settlers landed on their shores at the end of the 16th Century, after which French and British settlers brought with them Chinese, Indian and Indonesian slaves. Local Mauritian dishes therefore consist of a blend of all the above.

All of these groups must have been licking their collective lips when they saw what the island had to offer. Indeed when the Dutch arrived, they were greeted at the shores by the infamous Dodo: large flightless birds, the size of turkeys which ran to the shore in curiosity only to be skewered and roasted to extinction. They weren’t the smartest of creatures and didn’t adapt to their new predators so before long they were all wiped out. Nonetheless, there is still an abundance of fresh local seafood, exotic tropical fruits, local spices and herbs to make up what the missing Dodo.

 Some of the food highlights we enjoyed include pan fried line fish in curry sauce, and prawn sambal at a small roadside restaurant in Belle Mare.

The country’s primary export is sugar cane and related products, including rum. No trip to the island is complete without a day trip to the sugar museum and botanical gardens at Pamplemousses. The museum is not just a detailed guide to the entire production process from cane to granule, but also documents the history of the island in great detail. It’s easy then to see why sugar and rum played such an integral part in the evolution of the island’s culture.

Read more in my next blog entry about The Constance Belle Mare, a top resort where we spent a week trapped on a desert island.