Market Day

I talk a lot about food on here, and, as I was in Mahebourg at the market last weekend, I thought I'd take some nice photos to show the incredible variety of fruit and veg on offer here. I love it. The market, or Le Bazar as they call it here, in Mahebourg is the second biggest on the island, I think, after Port Louis. The atmosphere is very different though; locals and tourists are treated the same and pay the same prices. You can find everything from fruit to dried fish, colourful baskets, fake designer underpants, and much more.

You can find a lot of vegetables we have in Europe, but I only took pictures of the stuff I'd never seen before coming to live here.

These are brèdes songes like the ones we picked and prepared on the family day. You need to remove the woody outer layer on the stem before cooking.

These are brèdes as well. There are lots of different kinds - chouchou, giraumon, tom pouce, chou de Chine - pretty much any greens can be eaten I think. I love all of them, but some take a lot more effort to prepare than others.

These are margose. I'm not a fan as they're often really bitter. I don't know anyone who actually enjoys eating these; even Papy Pierre didn't cook them.

Local cucumbers are white and thicker than English ones. The skin and seeds are inedible, but otherwise they're tasty in a salad with a bit of chili. On the pictures above you can also see aubergines, which are called bringelle here, green bananas, chouchou, and lalos, also known as lady's finger or okra. I have no idea what the thing in the bottom picture is; even Merv couldn't answer that one.

Patisson

I haven't tried calebasse yet. It's not the same as the stuff we had growing in our garden. I've been told it's very good for you, and can be cooked in the same way as pipengaille and other vegetables that I'm more familiar with. You just make a rougail base of tomato, onion, garlic, ginger, and thyme.

Chili - as much a part of the Mauritian diet as rice is. I've learned that the smaller the quantity of sauce in a dish, the hotter it's likely to be. My friend Sophie eats these like crisps; even smelling one is enough to make me sneeze!

Patole is a recent discovery. I saw it in a restaurant and asked what it was. The waitress went out into the kitchen to find me one so I could see what it looked like before being cooked. It's a bit like a courgette.

You can smell the dried fish stand from the other end of the market. I've only eaten it once, in Réunion, and didn't really like it; it was too salty for me. The smell, and the fact that in the market it's always covered in flies don't help either.

I just realised that this pomegranate is the only picture I have of fruit, and it's one you all know. The display is pretty though. It's not really a good time for taking fruit photos; mango and lychee season is over, and you mainly see oranges, apples and pears at the moment.

Potatoes - so well arranged that they deserved a photo

Giraumon. It's a member of the pumpkin family, I'm not sure which one. They're so huge that they are left under the table and the guy just cuts off slices to sell.

Nope, not sprouts. Merv says this is called engive, and is bitter like margose. I don't know, I've never had any. Everything in the market is sold by the pound, and if you buy local vegetables, they're very cheap.

I'm getting hungry just thinking about all this. Here's a meal I prepared earlier, featuring patole, lalo, and giraumon.

To finish, here are a couple of non-food pictures. I don't have any of the Cawai Kleine underpants, but there are some nice baskets and souvenirs. These were taken in Port Louis.