It was here, on the Place Josephine, that I tried my first christophines: some puréed with milk and butter, others stuffed with crab. 

 The land itself changes color with the arrival of swarms of “matoutous”: the little land crabs that seem to all have been born the night before. Children take delight in going out to collect them, placing them into barrels where they’re fed on mangos, chilies and corn.

As in Guadeloupe, you’ll find acras (salt cod fritters), crabs and rock lobsters, shrimp or lamb colombo, but the Martinique versions are fruitier and milder in flavor.

Pineapple is served in many ways: as an accompaniment to pork; flambéed with brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg; or turned into fritters... or to cover the Christmas ham..

Chicken is cooked in coconut milk, while aged rum can be found in every course from first to last, whether in squash soup, with grilled lobster or in the seafood sauce. Green onions, garlic and lime are used ubiquitously.

 Before setting down to dinner, don’t miss trying the local “Ti-Punch”: white rum, cane syrup and lime zest!

- Vegetarian chili pepper

- Bay rum leaf

- Ti-nain / green banana