Comorian Cuisine

Comorian cuisine is a fragrant, flavourful fusion reflecting the archipelago's position at a crossroads of the Indian Ocean, blending Swahili, Arab, African, Indian and French influences and enriched by the islands' own spices. As an island nation, it prizes fresh fish and seafood, above all the excellent spiny lobster, grilled or in coconut sauce, alongside rice, cassava, plantain and breadfruit as staples. Dishes are enlivened with coconut, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg and the islands' famous vanilla, as in madaba, cassava leaves in coconut, and langouste à la vanille, lobster in vanilla sauce. Fresh, aromatic and distinctive, it is a delicious taste of the Perfume Islands.

What you actually see

• The spiny lobster - the prized langouste, grilled or in coconut sauce.
• The fresh fish - the grilled and coconut-stewed seafood.
• Madaba - the cassava leaves cooked in coconut.
• The spices and vanilla - the cloves, cardamom and famous vanilla.

When to go

Year-round; local eateries and markets serve fresh fish, seafood and coconut-rich island dishes, and the abundant spiny lobster is a highlight of this ocean nation. The islands' own spices and vanilla give the cuisine its distinctive fragrance, best sampled in dishes like lobster in vanilla sauce.

Honest expectations

Comorian food is fresh, aromatic island cooking centred on seafood, coconut and spice rather than a varied or refined restaurant cuisine, so its appeal is superb fresh fish and lobster and its fragrant fusion flavours rather than culinary breadth, and dining options are limited on these remote, little-visited islands; the usual care with water applies. Sampled with fresh spiny lobster in coconut or vanilla sauce, though, Comorian food is a genuine and delicious taste of the Indian Ocean's Perfume Islands.

Nearby

Moroni's market and the eateries across the islands are the places to eat.