Island to Island: The journey of Mauritian cuisine

The Food Programme

BBC

Food, Arts

4.4 • 977 Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2019

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mauritius recently celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence from the UK – and since that day in the 1960s, tens of thousands of islanders have made the UK their home; bringing with them a unique, diversely influenced cuisine that seems to enthral eaters from the first bite.

For those with Mauritian heritage, food - and the very act of coming together to eat with friends and family - is an almost sacred part of life; a tradition packed with love, laughter and lip-smacking dishes.

So why hasn't Mauritian food made more of an impact on the UK food scene, over the decades? And is that now starting to change?

Food and travel writer Leyla Kazim sets out on a journey to explore her own Mauritian heritage and the island’s growing culinary influence within the UK, learning more about a cuisine that has diversity and family – particularly matriarchs – at its very heart.

Leyla meets with pioneering cooks Selina Periampillai and Shelina Permalloo, two women who learned classic recipes handed down over the generations, who are proving that the second generation of Mauritians in the UK are determined to earn their cuisine the recognition it deserves...

She also learns more about the diverse history of the Indian Ocean island and its multicultural influences - and hears the moving tale of Clancy Phillippe, a Mauritian living in Australia who was inspired by his wife to introduce traditional Mauritian fare to the world.

Presented by Leyla Kazim and produced in Bristol by Lucy Taylor.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You don't need us to tell you there's a general election coming.
0:04.7	So what does it mean for you?
0:06.7	Every day on newscast we dissect the big talking points, the ones that you want to know more about.
0:12.4	With our book of contacts, we talk directly to the people you want to hear from.
0:16.8	And with help from some of the best BBC journalists,
0:19.5	we'll untangle the stories that matter to you.
0:23.0	Join me, Laura Kunsberg, Adam Fleming, Chris Mason and Patty O'Connell for our daily
0:28.4	podcast.
0:29.4	Newscast, listen on BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts. The caramel smell of molasses is the scent of Mauritius for me.
0:50.0	It takes me to verdance plantations and the first pressing of sugar cane.
0:58.0	A little waft and I'm suddenly there in the land of my forefathers.
1:06.7	Mauritian cuisine as this thing like once you've tasted,
1:09.7	it will just capture your taste buds and then you'll be looking for more. French colonists started. people just
1:13.2	people just capture your taste buds and you'll be looking for more. French colonists started eating rice and garies from the 18th century.
1:18.7	They have learned a different way of eating from the Indians, Chinese, Malagasy, from the Africans.
1:27.0	We've got this incredible ethnic mix on the island so we all have different beliefs but we sit around a table and we eat all the food that encompasses all those people.
1:38.0	That's why it's so interesting and why it's so unique. Welcome to the food program, the place for hungry minds.
1:50.0	My name's Leila Kacim, and I'm a Food and Travel writer and I'm also half Marician.
1:55.0	It's my mom who's from Maritius and I'm actually sitting in her kitchen right now.
2:00.0	Now the past year has been a pretty big deal for Maricious because it's marked 50 years of independence from Britain and it was also a pretty big deal for me because it was the first time I actually visited the motherland, a very
2:16.6	overdue visit and it actually meant a huge amount to me.
2:20.0	It was quite an emotional couple of weeks. Now in this program I'm going to try to
	...

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