French Guianan cuisine facts for kids

French Guianan cuisine is a tasty mix of different cultures! It brings together flavors from the local Creole people, the Bushinengue community, and the original Indigenous groups. Plus, it has influences from many other people who have moved to French Guiana over time.

Some of the most common ingredients you'll find are cassava (a root vegetable), smoked fish, and smoked chicken. If you visit big cities like Cayenne, Kourou, or Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, you'll see lots of Creole restaurants, often right next to Chinese restaurants!

Ingredients

French Guianan food uses many fresh and exciting ingredients from the region.

Spices and Condiments

These are used to give food its special taste!

• Bélimbi
• Allspice
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Turmeric
• Ginger
• Kwabio (a special seasoning)
• Cayenne pepper
• Green pepper
• Roucou

Vegetables

Red Beans and Rice

Many different vegetables grow well in French Guiana.

• Garlic
• Onion
• Shallots
• Eggplant
• Yellow and green banana (these are cooking bananas, not sweet ones)
• Calou (a type of pepper)
• Zucchini
• Chestnut
• Pumpkin
• Cucumber
• Dachine
• Spinach
• Breadfruit
• Yardlong bean
• Red bean
• Yams
• Cassava
• Turnip
• Parépou
• Sorossi
• Pigeon peas
• Pea
• Tayove
• Green bean

Common Fruits

Acerola Cherry

French Guiana is full of delicious tropical fruits!

• Apricot country
• Acerola cherry
• Cayenne cherry
• Mango
• Passion fruit
• Orange
• Clementine
• Mandarin
• Chadeck
• Lemon
• Papaya
• Apple Cinnamon
• Kythira plum
• Rambutan
• Tomato
• Banana

Meats

Chicken with Creole Rice

Common meats used in dishes include:

• Beef
• Chicken
• Duck
• Goose
• Mutton
• Pig
• Turkey
• Veal

Game (Hunting)

Some people also eat animals hunted from the wild, known as "game."

• Agami
• Peccary
• Agouti
• Maïpouri
• Hocco
• Iguana
• Cingulata
• Maraï

Seafood

Creole crab

With a long coastline, seafood is a big part of the diet.

• Sardines
• Tuna
• Machoiran
• Acoupa
• Snapper
• Mangrove crab
• Mangrove oyster
• Shrimp
• Atipas
• Aymara
• Pirai
• Coumarou
• Pacou
• Pacoussine
• Tiger torch
• Snail
• Shark
• Line
• Mule
• Toadfish
• Palika
• Croupia
• Ti-Djol
• Patagaï

Local Cuisine

Creole cuisine mixes the amazing flavors of tropical products from the Amazon rainforest, like cassava, awara, and comou, along with game meats. But many dishes also have strong roots from Africa, Asia, and Europe. This blend gives the food its unique spicy and subtle taste.

At the local market, which is a must-visit, Creole sellers will often give advice and let you taste their products. You can find "couac", which is cassava flour. It's super important for making "fierce lawyer", a dish that gets its strong kick from cayenne pepper.

Cassava, which was once seen as food for the poor, is now a popular ingredient. It's used in restaurants for dishes like "Kalawanng" or sweetened with coconut jam, grated coconut, or guava paste. And don't forget "Kontès" cakes! They are often eaten as a starter or with a drink, especially the famous "Ti' Punch".

Drinks

French Guiana has many refreshing drinks, some with a kick!

• Ti' Punch (a small rum punch)
• Saint-Maurice Rum
• Roselle syrup (made from the Roselle (plant) flower)
• Planter
• Various punches (like coconut punch, comou punch, or passion fruit punch)
• Comou or Açaí juice

Starters and Snacks

Creole pudding

These are great ways to start a meal or have a quick bite.

• Creole pudding
• Shrimp Marinades
• Cod fritters
• Stuffed crabs
• Soup z'habitants (a traditional Creole soup)
• Mangrove oysters (especially from Montsinéry)

Main Dishes

Fricassee of beef with Creole Rice

Here are some of the main meals you can enjoy.

• Blaff of fish or chicken (a light stew)
• Awara broth (a special soup made with awara fruit)
• Calou (a dish with smoked meat, shrimp, and pigtails, made with spinach and calous)
• Lawyer Fierce (a spicy cassava dish)
• Kalawang (a green mango salad)
• Guianan colombo (a stew of meat and vegetables like potato and green beans, flavored with curry)
• Fricassee of pig, chicken, or beef (a type of stew)
• Lizard or iguana fricassee
• Giraumonade (mashed pumpkin)
• Gratin couac (a baked dish with cassava flour)
• Various gratins (like papaya, ti-concombe, or dasheen)
• Pig-tails Beans ("haricot rouj ké la tcho cochon" in Creole)
• Pimentade (fish in a tomato sauce)
• Fish sauce maracudja (fish with passion fruit sauce)
• Yam puree
• Couac salad
• Creole steak
• Smoked Fish
• Smoked Chicken
• Pork ribs smoked
• Lenses with pig-tails ("lanty ké la tcho cochon" in Creole)

• Smoked dishes
• 

  Smoked fish

• 

  Smoked chicken

• 

  Smoked pork ribs

Desserts, Sweets, and Pastries

Countess (cake)

French toast

Time for something sweet!

• Angou (a type of dessert)
• Coconut Jam
• Sweet potato jam
• Conserve (a coconut tablet candy)
• Couac coconut (sweetened cassava semolina)
• Creticus (candied coconut)
• Frozen sorrel (a sweet ice treat)
• Lotcho (sweet coconut pulp)
• Pistachio Nougat (a dark nougat)
• Ramiquin (pulled sugar candy)
• Barley Sugar
• Wang (a sweet or savory powder)
• Zoa (sweet cereal semolina)
• Zorey Milat (fruit in syrup jam)
• Coconut sorbet
• French toast
• Sispa
• Banana salad
• Eggs with milk
• Lanmou chinwa (a type of cake)
• American (another type of cake)
• Bindingwel
• Countess
• Dizé milé (a donut)
• Dokonon (a steamed cake wrapped in foil)
• Cramanioc cake (a pudding)
• Marzipan
• Banana pulp (a sweet slipper-shaped treat)