INTRODUCTION TO FOOD IN GUADELOUPE (PHOTO ESSAY)
- Melissa Banigan
- Aug 2, 2017
- 3 min read
It's no secret that I love Guadeloupe’s French-Créole cuisine. A rich blend of African, Indian, Amerindian, and French culinary styles, meals often incorporate fresh fruits des mer and locally-grown spices. On most menus, accras (deep-fried codfish fritters), chadron (sea urchin), langouste (lobster), and lambi (conch) are found alongside French continental dishes such as smoked duck and chicken or goat Colombo, a dish inspired by Indian indentured servants who arrived to the islands in the 19th century.
The below list is in no way comprehensive, but just provides a short list of some of my favorite Guadeloupean fare. Vegans, please look away. While I'm "mostly vegan" while staying in New York, I adhere to an "anything goes" diet in Guadeloupe (although I eat mostly sustainable fish and invasive species). Rest assured, I'll have many future posts about vegan/vegetarian foods, restaurants (only my favorites), and a comprehensive list of markets.
BOKIT
A sandwich fried in sunflower oil, bokit was developed post-slavery in the 19th century. Inspired by New England "johnny cake," bokit was first made by workers who were too poor to even afford bread, so they got creative and developed an unleavened bread using only flour, water, a bit of salt, and bicarbonate. Today, Guadeloupeans add a bit of yeast and stuff it with chopped lambi (conch), tuna, or ham and cheese.
Although bokit is a little heavy (it's a fried food, after all!), it's also cheap and delicious, and on my strict solo traveling single mama budget, I eat them all the time.
RHUM
Rhum plays a part in many of the Caribbean islands, including Guadeloupe. The first distillation of this alcoholic beverage was on sugarcane plantations during the 17th century, and it quickly became popular in many port cities around the world. While sugar imports from the Caribbean to North America were eventually restricted after the American Revolution (leading to whiskey becoming a preferred drink), rhum continued to be the drink of choice in the Caribbean.
Combined with fruit juices and syrups, rhum punches are served by le doigt (fingerful) in the afternoons as an aperitif, with special spiced holiday punches reserved for the holidays.Traditionally, holidays in Guadeloupe don’t just last one day, but many days. Meals and rhum are served, music is played, and people of all ages are encouraged to take long, lazy siestes.
BOUDIN
Boudin, which is a spicy sausage made of either pig's blood or fish, was brought to Guadeloupe by colonists, and it quickly became a traditional French-Creole delicacy. I love the stuff, and wrote about it for NPR's food section, The Salt (you can read the story on Travel Solo After 40, here). In addition to being spicy and nourishing, each bite retraces the dark history of colonization as well as the celebration of the abolition of slavery and postcolonial culture in Guadeloupe.
LAND CRABS
Land crabs are a delicacy in Guadeloupe. Nocturnal so that they don’t dry out in the hot Caribbean sun, these creatures are hunted by locals after the sun goes down or first thing in the morning.
During Easter, a surf and turf meal – ocean fish and land crabs – is traditional fare. The crabs are often made into a calalou, a spicy herbed stew made with spinach-like leaves and, because Lent is over, thick slabs of smoked bacon.
LENT & CARNIVAL
During Lent (the weeks preceding Easter), Catholics are not allowed to eat meat. Carnival, which in Latin means “farewell to meat,” is a wild festival that takes place on the days immediately before Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of Lent. The festivities often signify a temporary seceding of normal activities, with many people turning a blind eye to the associated debauchery, drinking, and meat-laden meals.
Throughout Lent, fish stews are common, and many restaurants and families closely guard their recipes.
