Origins as varied as the mosaic of peoples
With changing lifestyles and strong culinary traditions, street food has become a way of life in Mauritius, part of a colorful local cultural heritage.
We need to go back in time to understand this legacy of successive colonizations. The first humans to set foot on Mauritian soil were the Arabs (in 975). The Portuguese (1511), the Dutch (1598-1710), the French (1715-1810) with the introduction of slavery, then the British (1814-1968) each left their mark over the centuries. The first wave of Chinese migration took place in the 1780s and, shortly after the abolition of slavery in 1835, half a million Indian workers came to tend the cane fields. This mosaic of peoples and cultures forms the soul of Mauritian society, and is reflected in its cuisine and its distinctive tastes.
Port-Louis, capital of street food
According to a ranking of the world's most attractive cities for street food carried out by the English daily The Telegraph in 2017, Port-Louis came 9th. The same year, in a CNN selection, the capital ranked 16th. While these rankings remain subjective, they do reflect an undeniable reality, as the capital shines with the multitude of its street vendors and the diversity of its culinary offerings. The Port-Louis market, also known as the porlwi bazaar, is an excellent starting point for an immersion in Mauritian food culture. You'll be inexorably drawn to the smells of fruit and vegetable stalls, spices and the famous dholl puris and rotis stalls, whose best stalls can be easily spotted by the queues that form right up to the street - a cursor that says a lot about the talents of the cook and the quality of the products used, because when it comes to street food, as with other forms of catering, Mauritius has its "big names". As you stroll from neighborhood to neighborhood, unconcerned by the simple exterior of the street stalls, you learn about the island's various specialties - a chromatic and gustatory blend of Indian, Creole and Chinese flavors... For travelers with curious taste buds, Taste Budies and My Moris even organizeStreet Food Tours to discover this culinary wealth and visit or approach the city in a different way.
Dholl puri and roti, Mauritians' favourite cakes
On the streets, you'll always come across Roti Merchants, sellers of farata or paratha - the most popular type of cake in Indian cuisine. Farata and roti are the same thing, but purists will say that one is flakier than the other. Each family has its own recipe. Roti is an unleavened bread made from oil, flour, salt and water. It is baked on a tawa (hot plate) and served with the topping of one's choice, a minimum of rougaille (a tomato-based Creole sauce), gros pois curry (Cape peas) and satini (raw chili chutney - green with mint and coriander or red with chili and tomato). The whole thing is rolled up and wrapped in a sheet of paper.
It's impossible to talk about street food without mentioning the famous dholl puri. Mauritian expatriates are often nostalgic for it, and their eyes sparkle at the mention of this very Mauritian specialty. The lighter galette is made in the same way as roti, but with the addition of yellow split pea flour, turmeric and cumin. The dholl puris are served with the same condiments as the rotis, and always in pairs!
Gato pimento, star of the street food
These salty dumplings, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside, are considered to be the Mauritian falafel! Gato pimento is made from dhall (yellow split peas) rather than chickpeas, ground and mixed with onion tails, caripoulé leaves, coriander, dried chilli and turmeric. Balls of this mixture, about the size of ping-pong balls, are then immersed for a few minutes in boiling oil. Enjoyed hot, gato pimento or bonbon pimento is eaten on its own or accompanied by a spicy sauce. All Mauritians love them!
Dumplings, fried mines and Chinese pastries
With chouchou and chicken, lamb and ginger, fish, etc., dumplings or Chinese bites are served in a broth, with or without noodles, topped with a garlic sauce and crushed chili pepper. They are generally eaten on the spot, at the counter. Fried mines, fried noodles cooked with Asian sauces and topped with chicken, shrimp, vegetables and omelettes, are also a common sight on the streets of Mauritius.
And you won't want to leave the capital without trying some of the sweets on offer in the bakeries of Chinatown. Gato zinzli, for example, is made from rice and sweet potato flour, stuffed with black lentil paste and coated in sesame seeds. It's an adaptation of the red bean-stuffed versions traditionally found in China. You can also try poutou (a kind of sponge cake flavored with orange peel), towsa, a steamed rice flour cake filled with a sweet black lentil paste, or gato la cire, which is only available at Chinese New Year.
Must-haves in the sweet section
The gato arouille, a Taro root fritter, crispy on the outside, soft and sweet in the middle with a hint of ginger, the gato banana or the gato patate, made with sweet potato stuffed with sweetened grated coconut flavored with vanilla and cardamom, are the delight of the island's inhabitants. Not forgetting, of course, the many tropical fruits on display in the market stalls and roadside stands. And if you dare, do as the Mauritians do: ask for a sprinkling of salt and chilli on your juicy punnet of fruit, mango or pineapple!
