The basics of Saint Martin's cuisine
The island's cuisine features a multitude of vegetables such as sweet potatoes, plantains, christophine, yams, okra and giraumon. Of course, in addition to goat meat and chicken, the locals feast on what the sea has to offer in the form of a multitude of fish: snapper, dolphin fish - also known as mahi-mahi, tuna, wahoo... but also all kinds of seafood such as clams, ciriques (small crabs), sea urchins and, of course, the unmissable lambi, an enormous sea snail whose dense, rubbery flesh requires a good deal of cooking time to soften. The end result is delicious. To season it all, St. Martinese don't shy away from spices: turmeric, fennel seeds, coriander, star anise, Indian wood, Jamaican pepper and, of course, chilli. The bird's tongue and habanero varieties are the fiercest. Finally, there are hundreds of fruits on the island, decorating the markets with their bright colors: bananas - fressinette or fig-apple - watermelons, mangoes, avocados, papayas, passion fruit, deliciously sweet pineapples and, of course, coconuts.
Local specialties
In addition to the international cuisine served in hotels to please guests from the four corners of the globe, Saint-Martin is fortunate to have a number of restaurants - often reserved for locals - where you can sample a wide range of West Indian specialties.
You can start with some aperitifs, to be enjoyed with a cocktail or a nice ice-cold beer, such as boudin créole, white or black. A specialty that almost never disappoints, even in the bouis-bouis. You can also find lambi boudin, which is rarer but very good. You can't go past the delicious acras, fried fritters with cod and sometimes shrimp, or balaou, a small elongated fish that is fried and eaten whole, smelt-style. Alternatively, refresh yourself with féroce, an avocado and manioc purée spiced with cod, or chiquetaille, cooked and shredded cod served in vinaigrette.
Among the main dishes, you can't go to Saint-Martin without trying grilled chicken, which is more common on the island than smoked chicken. A veritable religion in Guadeloupe and Martinique, this is a spicy chicken smoked on a sort of three-quarter closed barbecue, topped with a chimney. The meat is placed over the hearth and cooked very gently thanks to the smoke. On the other hand, ribs - pork ribs marinated in a sweet and sour sauce for a long time before being grilled - are an integral part of St. Martinese culture. Alternatively, try colombo - which can be served with any kind of meat, including cabri, chicken or even lambi - with its rich, spicy sauce. Other dishes in sauce include bélélé (tripe stew with bread dumplings), blaff (fish in a tangy sauce) and matoutou (crab fricassee).
In addition to delicious tropical fruits, there are a number of simple desserts, including ice creams, some of them homemade and local, which are more than welcome in the tropical heat. When it comes to drinks, you can't go past the guavaberry. This is Saint-Martin's national drink, made from rum and wild berries harvested from the island's hilltops. Beer is everywhere too. Heineken, Carib, Presidente and Corona are very popular, but Pelikaan, a 100% locally brewed beer, has recently begun to overshadow its elders. Otherwise, of course, rum is deeply rooted in the soul of Saint-Martin. Whether white, amber, arranged (with fruit, citrus zest, vanilla or cinnamon) or in cocktails (such as ti-punch made with white rum, lime and sugar syrup), it is inseparable from the Antilles. Although sugar cane is not grown on the island, Saint-Martin imports it and produces, among other things, Island Cane rum and Ma Doudou 's rhums arrangés , easily recognizable with their pretty hand-painted bottles, perfect for carrying in your luggage as a gift.
If there are typical Saint-Martin dishes, Johnny Cake is one of them. A small, usually deep-fried loaf, cousin to the bokit, it can be eaten hot (or cold for the more patient), plain or filled with codfish and other ingredients. Originally made by Amerindians ( shawnees) from corn flour and baked on hot stones, it is a must-have breakfast item in the English-speaking Caribbean, and comes in a variety of shapes (wheat, cassava or rice flour) and cooking methods (fried or baked). Its name is the subject of much debate and varies from place to place. One of the most likely explanations for the name Johnny Cake is a distortion of Journey Cake, as Amerindians took it with them on their daily expeditions.
