Suriname

I love going to the food markets and seeing what’s different. For starters, the beans (kouseband) in Suriname are about 5 times longer than those at home, and delicious. They chop them finely and cook them with onions. They are served with most rotis, which are usually not rolled, and you eat them with your fingers (often resulting in yellow fingernails 😁). We also found some pampelmousse which are like huge grapefruit, but not quite as tart. The pineapples are also sweeter and look more pointed than our stocky variety. The dragonfruit are startlingly stunning and taste a bit like kiwi fruit. Crisps are seldom made from potatoes but rather from cassava, bananas or breadfruit.
In general, the cuisine comprises dishes from many different cultures like Indian, African, Indonesian, Chinese and Dutch and it’s quite different from the rest of the continent. Chicken, rice, cassava, shrimps or noodles are found in most dishes - usually spiced with peppers - and it’s all very tasty. There’s not much in the cake department though. I found a cake called bojo, which is made from cassava and coconut (and gluten free if you’re interested). It was full of flavour but looked and tasted very stodgy. I still ate it! 😆 I was also very relieved to find limes for my margaritas! 🤣Read more