The Malagasy Contribution
The fourth contribution is drawn from neighbouring Madagascar. As mentioned earlier, quite a large proportion of slaves who were brought to the Seychelles came from Madagascar and it is only fair to say that their contribution would also have been major. But why it is that it is not that obvious? I believe that this may be because Madagascar experienced more or less the same culinary influences in its infancy as the Creole Cuisine experienced a few centuries later! Its cuisine reflects the influence of Southeast Asian, African, Indian, Chinese and European migrants that had settled on the island since it was first populated by seafarers from Borneo between 100 CE and 500 CE.
Polynesian Traders – For Illustrative Purposes only
In their outrigger canoes they would have carried food staples from home including rice, plantains, taro, and water yam. Sugarcane, ginger, sweet potatoes, pigs and chickens were also probably brought to Madagascar by these first settlers, along with coconut and banana. Trade with Arab and Indian merchants and European transatlantic traders further enriched the island’s culinary traditions by introducing a wealth of new fruits, vegetables and seasonings.
Some of the contributions and influences from Madagascar are commented on below:
How we dish out our meals may have been influenced by the Malagasy slaves. Our staple meal which consists of a base of rice served with a main dish of fish, meat or poultry plus an accompaniment is identical to the traditional meal of the Malagasy. In the early days of settlement and up until a few years ago a lot of Seychellois households, especially on small islands would reheat rice cooked for dinner for breakfast, locally known as diri resofe. This was also a typical breakfast in Madagascar.
Slaves at Home- For illustrative Purposes Only
Some of the contributions may also be evident in the names of edible plants, meats and beverages. The local beverage kalou, the palm wine or toddy, may have derived from the Malagasy word halu or akalu ; Tubers like Kanbar, a vegetable, which may have originated from the Malagasy word kambara; patat sonz, a type of yam and well a vegetables including Bwenm , a long bean, may also have Malagasy roots. The meat Kitouz which is salted and dried turtle meat, could have derived from the Malagasy word kitoza which is a smoked dried beef.
The Malagasy influence is also apparent in the use of containers made from plants including zanpon or empondre. These are spathes from the different palm trees that were used for water storage as well as for boiling water. When still green they were molded into different shapes and dried. Once dried they retain their shapes. They were turned into plates and small cups and other types containers. We also inherited the use of dried calabash or kalbas which were used as water container all over the islands.
We also inherited the techniques of sun curing or drying, smoking and salting used to preserve various foods for transport, trade or future consumption. A technique less wildly used now that most household has refrigerators.
The Malagasy slaves also contributed to some of our traditional cooking equipment including the touk , which is a three stone trivet that was traditionally used for cooking in the open air, which is derived from the Malagasy word toko meaning a three stones cooking place.
Also of Malagasy origin is the method of cooking rice. The Malagasy-style of cooking rice followed the following steps: The rice was first sorted and all dry husks, weevils, grits and other foreign matter meticulously removed. It was then washed numerous times and finally soaked for a while! The rice was cooked on low heat all day long. To puff up the rice and prevent form shrinking while it boils, it was covered with zanpon or leaves, including banana leaves, in order to puff up the rice to the maximum. This method of cooking invariably resulted in the rice sticking to the bottom of the pot and created lapang or rapang in Malagasy, which is more or less a burnt crust, a favourite of mine, eaten usually with a curry of tuna cooked in coconut milk and flavoured with cinnamon leaves or kari koko ton.
We also inherited some fishing terms like frang or farango in Malagasy. Farango was a harpoon whereas in Seychelles the frang became a large hook that was, and is still used, to catch large fish especially sharks.
Could it be that it is the subtle Malagasy contribution that was the catalyst in the fusion of all the other influences into one?
Click here to read about the fifth contribution.
