More food

At the film festival, there was a small buffet of hors-d’oeuvres after the second film, so I got in line. I soon discovered that that was a mistake. I don’t want to generalize beyond tonight’s experience, but the people at this event had no concept of a ‘line’. It was very much a blob. People grabbed plates and shoved them in front of the server, who then placed the food on their plates. It bore no resemblance to order. Eventually, I managed to get some food, and it was delicious. But it got me thinking that I really haven’t put any food pictures up in a while. So here we go: This is tétéwélé, which translates roughly as ‘salty stew’ or ‘Jason just makes up translations for words that don’t have any’. It’s a stew made with dried, salted fish, akin to what the Italians call baccalà, and is made with tomatoes and onions (again, like the Italians prepare it). A smidge too salty but not bad. Fun fact: I got this at the same restaurant that catered the film festival.




At the market, I picked up some carrots, and the stand where I picked them up had these three herbs/spices. The first is piman kafé or ‘coffee pepper’. I’m not entirely sure why it’s called that, though it might turn brown as it ripens. Anyhow, I don’t think I’ve mentioned the French Guianese love affair with peppers, but they are everywhere. In most of the important recipes, you add a bit of spicy pepper. With your pizza, they give you a spicy pepper sauce. Hell, now I’m thinking that ‘coffee pepper’ might derive its name from the fact that you’re supposed to stir it into your coffee. Anyhow, there’s always a wide variety of spicy peppers to choose from, but you have to be careful and know what you’re getting into. For instance, for some peppers, you must not must not must not eat the seeds. And when you buy the jarred pepper sauces in the supermarket, you have to keep in mind that because peppers are probably used as pacifiers, people have a high tolerance for spiciness, so ‘medium’ strong is actually intolerable, and if you buy ‘strong’, you should probably call your family and tell them you love them, because you might not survive it. I wish I were kidding, but there’s actually a chili pepper powder called souf or in English ‘suffering’. I’m afraid to use the small bag I bought. The next picture is bwa denn ‘Indian wood’. This is used much in the same way bay leaves are used: you just drop it in the soup and it gives it some flavor, but you can’t eat it. Like bay leaves, this is usually sold dry, but these were actually fresh, so I got a picture. Also, bwa denn is available not only in leaf form, but also in small, peppercorn-size chunks. The last is poupyé or in English ‘pussley’. I really know nothing about it.

We’ll end with dessert. First, there’s a picture of the sispa I’ve already talked about. Then there’s the picture of a guy who made sorbet in the traditional style. Here, he’s serving me some passionfruit sorbet. Very tasty, not really creamy, just falls apart in your mouth but in a good way. The guy had a good sense of humor too, telling me that he didn’t give change out on weekends.