Martinique -- Culinary Treats with a French Flavor

Part I --
Martinique in the Caribbean’s French West Indies is a wonderful piece of France. I toured the island during annual Culinary Week, April 30 to May 5, spoke French with the locals, devoured gourmet French food, imbibed the island’s famous rum brands, toured lively St. Pierre, swam in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and even enjoyed a cooking lesson. Magnificent.
The island’s marvelous cuisine combines the best of France, Creole and Martinique adaptations, with chefs on the island on an equal footing with the best French chefs. Naturally, because they are French! Most train in France, or in Martinique under French Chefs.
I joined a group of six other tourists plus Christel, from the Martinique Tourist Bureau, and charming guide, Andre. We drove all around the island during our visit. Traveling south to north, beaches to mountains, coral reefs to hilltop plantations, from to banana groves to sugar fields, we took time out for beachcombing, swimming and relaxing. For five days we clambered into our comfy tour van to visit rum distilleries, rural villages, local museums, a synagogue, and the volcano Museum in St. Pierre.
Our culinary journeys forced us to taste, imbibe, indulge, sample, tour and meet top Martinique chefs, chocolateers, innkeepers, Tak Tak ecological and local food growers. On this yummy culinary and island adventure, we drank too much planter’s punch, rum, rum, and chocolate. We stayed in two very different hotels – all-inclusive Club Med Buccaneer's Creek, and elegant Le Domaine St Aubin, a family-run authentic 19th-century former plantation home. The flavors of Martinique cuisine are subtle and complex, a mix of influences from America, Africa, Europe and Asia. It’s the world on your plate, whether boeuf bourginon or court-bouillon, or fish curry as the Martinique tourism website notes.
Martinique is a part of France, and the culture. To the West lie the Caribbean, bordered by sandy beaches or cliffs and dotted with coastal villages. From Pointe du Bout there is a spectacular view of the beautiful bay, which surrounds the island’s capital city, Fort de France. To the North lies a protected rain forest, streams and Mount Pelée, a live volcano.
Located on the east coast of Martinique, near the ocean and the small "Saint Aubin" island, Le Domaine Saint Aubin is a colonial manor, with 11 guest rooms in the main house, all furnished with 19th century décor. Sitting on the expansive wrap-around verandas in wicker furniture, gazing out across mountain vistas, fields and the ocean, it’s a magical, romantic setting. Le Domaine’s charming owners, Joele and Laurens preserved the antique Napoleon the third mahogany furniture, shady verandas, surrounding lounges, restaurant and bedrooms, sunny terraces, and a delicately colored swimming-pool. He formerly worked as a jazz musician in top Parisian nightclubs while she was a costume sewer for the Comedie Francaise in Paris. Here, at their hotel, they greet guests in English and French, during cocktail hour or dinner, which Joele cooks.
One night, as I was swimming in the pool towards sunset, I heard a whooshing noise, saw a black shape, and watched as a bat came swooping down to take a sip from the pool. It was like watching a ballet, as the little bat circled, returned, drank, then flew away.
Www.ledomainesaintaubin.com/.
Martinique restaurants offer are a special mix of French and Creole cuisine, with cooking demonstrations and conversations with several prominent Martinique chefs throughout.
One afternoon, our group hopped on a tourist boat and headed “to sea” towards the refreshing waters surrounding Josephine's Bathtub, a shallow area of sea ideal for bathing and swimming. Cruising from the marina to the island, we changed into our bathing suits in a room we had rented in a traditional French guest house on the island – it’s also possible to spend a few nights there -- the inn keeper cooks dinner – then climbed back aboard our boat, cruised for about five minutes, dropped anchor and climbed over the side to swim in the crystalline waters. Our crew swam around us, offering rum punch and barbecue chicken, served in a mini-wooden “row” boat he pushed around. Photo by Rachel Rome