BISCUITERIE H. RAULT

Even before you enter the holy of holies, the sacred lair with the scent of hot biscuits, the guide takes you to the family well, where the only hydraulic ram pump ever invented by the Montgolfier brothers captures the energy of the river: a pride almost as much as the cakes... and as a signal. Press the decelerator, you're in the depths of Mauritius, far from the lagoon, the glamour, the glitter. Authentic sequence. Is it the story of a transference, a fantasy, a transference? That of a filiation in any case, therefore an act of love. The ancestor, Fabien Rault, comes from Brittany and carries within him the buttery taste of the pancakes of his childhood. The son pursues the dream and, with the means at hand, tries to reproduce the taste of the biscuits so often told. For lack of wheat, he tries manioc. We are in 1870, a company is born.

Although it is unique in the world and supplying for export, it remains forever family owned and rooted in its 19th century juice. Here, the machines have the somewhat solemn look of antique pieces, the moulding of the dough is carried out by ladies wearing charlottes and the packaging of the biscuits is done by hand, under the eye of the boss in front of her account book. Balzac tropical version. You have to dare to wander through the alleys of the back of Mahébourg to discover this pearl, to live this little moment of nothing in this improbable space. Gently, we are given the keys to the making, but not the doses of the recipe fiercely kept secret by the members of the small family business! The process, which is traditional and unchanged, allows us to make biscuits and cakes without preservatives, colourings or binding agents, making it one of the healthiest cakes on the sugar planet.

During the First World War, the biscuit factory even helped to feed part of the local population and grew. But in the 1980s, due to a lack of manioc and a difficult economic situation, the factory almost went bankrupt and they had to resort to importing dried cassava from Madagascar, and then initiate guided tours to ensure the survival of the tradition.

Thanks to these efforts, every day, more than 15,000 cakes are made on the spot and are available in seven flavours: butter, coconut, milk, aniseed, vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon, not to mention the filled cakes that can only be obtained at the biscuit factory or in the supermarkets of Mahébourg, almost a privilege (!). The visit naturally ends with a tasting.