This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
Sint Maarten is particularly rich in cultural diversity. There are around a hundred different communities on the Dutch side of the West Indian island, with a population of around 40,000 inhabitants. This inevitably leaves its mark in the local and culinary culture where, from one dish to another, we taste the history of Sint Maarten.
Land of salt
Unsurprisingly, the island’s recent history is closely linked to its colonial past. First inhabited by the Arawaks, this indigenous Caribbean community named the island “Soualuga”, aka land of salt, given its numerous salt marshes. This is what interested the Dutch, the French, but also the Spanish and the English during the colonial era. Then, as elsewhere in the West Indies, sugar cane production was introduced and experienced its best years in the 18th century.e century.
As for salt production, it was at its peak around 1800. At the time of the abolition of slavery, in 1848 on the French side of the island, and in 1863 on the Dutch side, times changed on the salt plantations. sugar cane and marshes. Freed men and women returned to subsistence agriculture and fishing and abandoned these two “unfortunate” industries.
Due to a lack of labor, Chinese and Indian immigration plays an important role in the history of Sint Maarten, just as in several other colonies around the world. Here, they first work in the salt industry, then they create their own businesses and contribute greatly to the economic growth and multicultural identity of the island.
Land of men
A delicious way to sample this cultural diversity is to explore local restaurants. One of the emblematic dishes is “johnnycake”. “It is a distortion of journey cake, says George Parotte, passionate about history and birds, founder of the Heritage Museum and Medicinal Garden — a collection of artifacts from the island’s inhabitants — and Parotte Ville, a sanctuary for tropical birds. It’s more of a loaf than a cake, and it helped support workers on plantations and marshes. »
Traditionally made from cornmeal, it has a nebulous origin. But they remain a must on the menu in Sint Maarten. Fried or pan-fried, they accompany many dishes, such as many stews. At TJ’s Cassava Coal Pot in Philipsburg, for example, owner Jewel Daal offers small fried johnnycakes. They are therefore very crispy on the outside and the crumb is still quite dense. They can then be immersed in the dish with conch sauce — the shell mollusk that imitates the sound of the sea.
For other culinary experiences like this, lolos — local addresses at affordable prices (low cost) — are the ideal places to taste the local cuisine. We also go there to chat with the locals and watch the people passing by, cold bottle of Carib in hand. And if we want a little something more intense, we turn to guavaberry liqueur.
From rum to rumberry
Since the sugar industry did not hold up after the abolition of slavery and the mechanization of the largest plantations elsewhere in the world, distilleries prefer rumberry or guavaberry rather than sugar cane to produce sugar. alcohol. Not to be confused with guava, guava in English, guavaberry is a West Indian fruit, shaped like a cornflower, dark purple or orange in color. Once transformed into alcohol, this drink has both sweet and slightly tart notes. It is also flavored with fruits, such as tamarind, pineapple and star fruit. On the French side of the island, the little boutique of Colombier Tradition on Rue de Hollande has a whole collection of guavaberry-based drinks, jams and hot sauces.
Our journalist was the guest of the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Duty, relating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.