French Guiana

Guyanese cuisine was born of four hundred years of European, African, Indian and Amerindian cultural blending. Spices are essential here: nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, pepper and chilli.

Boucané — smoked chicken or fish, a legacy of the pirates — is prepared in a thousand different ways. The fish-rich waters yield fish and prawns, cooked in marinades or on skewers, as blaff, a court-bouillon with onions, garlic, celery and basil, as pimentade, a fish court-bouillon in a tomato sauce, or as rôti cougnade, grilled fish. Fricassees are served with rice and red beans.

The dish regarded as "national" is bouillon d'awara: the pulp of palm fruit, simmered into a stew with smoked chicken and fish, served as a sign of welcome and especially at Easter and Pentecost. To taste the region, you must visit the fruit and vegetable markets of Cayenne and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni.