In June my husband and I had the opportunity of returning to Mauritius to house and cat-sit for friends. On this trip we decided to explore more of the food and culture of the island.
We took up a recommendation from friends of ours who had visited Mauritius a few months earlier. They suggested a Mauritian cooking experience that they had also been on in their time there. And what a joy it turned out to be!
With me being a vegetarian we were fortunate enough to cook two main dishes, a chicken curry for Craig and a vegetable curry for me. We also made rotis to accompany the meal. On top of that, we got to make a delicious starter called gato piment, and a cream pineapple dessert. And the joy of it was that we were involved at every stage of the cooking process – from chopping the vegetables to deep frying the roti and gato piment.
We didn’t warn the teacher ahead of time that I was blind, but she took it all in her stride and allowed me to determine what I was able to do. It was refreshing to have that level of acceptance, because usually sighted people with little experience of disability tend to try and protect me from any activity they think could be dangerous, like chopping vegetables with a sharp knife. They have little experience of what I can actually do and tend to be overly cautious.
We had so much fun learning the process of creating each dish, adding the spices and seeing the dishes change from raw ingredients to a delicious meal. And the best of all was that we got to consume what we had created during the lesson!
Definitely an experience to be recommended if you get the chance!
