Please join us on a journey to explore The Creole Melting Pot, more specifically the Creole cookery, tradition and culture from the Seychelles Islands.
Zanpol ek Selis
We are Jean-Paul and Marie-Célice Barallon, ‘true blue’ Creoles or kreol, born in the Seychelles, and currently residing in Australia with our children and grandchildren. Like many of the Seychellois diaspora, despite the fact that we now reside far from the Seychelles, we still maintain strong social, cultural and political ties with our homeland. Many of us get a bit nostalgic at times and miss the warm climate, especially when winter sets in. We also miss the fragrance and spiciness of the Creole food, the atmosphere , the friends and the joie de vivre. In order to compensate for this , we try as much as possible to bring the breeze of the islands back into our home by recreating many of the creole dishes and playing the sega to entertain our friends. Most of us can also access many of the ingredients that we use in the Creole cooking from Asian and other specialty shops as well as markets and supermarkets but some main ingredients will always be missing and these include the balmy sea air and the sound of the moutya drums in the distance…
Jean-Paul was born on Praslin, the second biggest island in the Seychelles and spent all his younger days on islands like Cousin, Arid , Cousine as well as Silhouette where his dad, Maxime, was the island administrator. After his primary and secondary schooling he joined the Hospitality Industry and became the first Seychellois to manage an international hotel and that was the Reef Hotel at Anse aux Pins on Mahé Island. He is still heavily involved in the Hospitality Industry.
Marie-Célice was born at Takamaka, a village on Mahé Island and also spent all her working life in the Hotel industry. She started at the Reef Hotel, then went to Beau Vallon Bay Hotel and together with her husband jointly managed a few hotels before migrating to Australia. Marie-Célice is a certified chef whose cooking skills are well known within the Seychellois community and is the main contributor to most of the recipes in this blog.
We have both returned to the Seychelles quite a few times to take on working contracts as well as taking deserved holidays and we will always miss the islands!
Why The Creole Melting Pot?
The Melting Pot
There is a theory about the melting pot. The theory is a metaphor that relies on the image of people from different cultures and backgrounds mixing and melting together into one big cultural pot. The metaphor comes from the fusing together of melted metal material. In the days when heavy metal cooking pots were made in mills, several metals were melted down and fused together to create one strong pot. This is where the melting pot metaphor originated. Each culture brings something unique to the mix, which makes for a much richer and more diverse country.
This is exactly what the Seychelles is. It is a melting pot of people from a wide variety of backgrounds: African including Mozambiquans, French, Chinese, Malagasy and Indian and the assimilation of their respective food, cultures, ethnic origins, religions, ideas and traditions into a cohesive whole to become a larger culture that is uniquely Seychellois. The process of assimilation has also given rise to a young and vibrant culture as well as a type of cookery that is fresh, young and unpretentious.
The Logo
The logo of The Creole Melting Pot is depicted by a marmit, or cast iron pot, with a lid on, sitting on multicoloured flames.
The marmit is one of the few cooking pots that have been associated with Seychellois Creole cookery since the first settlement. It is sitting on multicoloured flames that represents all the influences that have contributed to who we are to-day; a proud, fun-loving and gentle people. The lid is on and the pot is still ‘cooking’ because the process of fusion and assimilation of all the influences into our culture is still ongoing with contributions from modern influences.
The Mission of The Creole Melting Pot
We see this blog, The Creole Melting Pot, ultimately becoming a treasury of authentic Creole recipes and an information source on the culture and traditions of the Seychelles Islands. We also see it as a vehicle that will connect all of us, irrespective where we are in this big world, into a tight community of Seychellois and friends of the Seychelles. It is for this reason that we look forward to any contribution that you may have, including suggestions on how to improve a recipe, contributing to a post about our tradition or even adding your own post. You can contact us by clicking on the address below.
Those of you living overseas and who have lost touch with the island life, The Creole Melting Pot will assist you in reconnecting with your heritage, and to those who are born overseas from Seychellois parents, it will assist you in connecting with your roots and in enhancing your appreciation of the Seychellois culture with the possibility of spreading it further afield to your friends and associates.
To all those who would like to know more about the food and culture from these small gems lost in the middle of the Indian Ocean, subscribe to The Creole Melting Pot and we will take you on a journey that is ‘unique by a thousand miles’.
As we progress through this journey, we will explore some of the factors that make the Seychellois Creole food so unique. We will also introduce you to some of our personal experiences as well as to the historical background of some of the dishes, traditions, dances etc..including their names and origin. These, will give an extra dimension to your appreciation of this melting pot and hopefully inspire you to explore the Seychelles Islands.
Most of the dishes in this blog are unpretentious traditional home-cooked dishes, some will have a modern twist to them with slight deviation from the original recipes, but still keeping within the spirit of the dish.
Let us start the journey….
Click on this link to read more on our interpretation of The Origin of the Creole Cuisine of the Seychelles.
