Madagascar - 16 Sept - 1 Oct

Well, Madagascar was amazing - stunning landscapes, fantastic wildlife, fascinating people ... and the food wasn't bad either! It's a very poor country and the average Malagasy lives mainly on rice, often flavoured with a broth made of vegetables or perhaps a bit of meat. On our first day we got a taste of ro mazava, the national dish; a broth of zebu meat (although ours was mostly bone and gristle!) and very bitter greens, served with a big pile of rice. It wasn't a very promising start, but thankfully, things improved significantly.

The trip was mostly full-board and the hotels we were staying in were surprisingly good. The food varied enormously, but it was mostly French-influenced (the former colonial power) but using local ingredients. Probably the predominant ingredient through the first half of the trip was zebu - the local horned cattle that you see absolutely everywhere and which are very important in Malagasy culture:

I think perhaps the best example I had, and possibly the best meal of the trip, was at a restaurant in the little town of Ambalavao where we stopped for lunch on the long drive south. I ordered zebu fillet and chips and the steak that arrived, topped with crispy fried ginger, was one of the tastiest, most tender steaks I think I've ever had - simple, but absolutely delicious!


As we reached the south coast, the meat gave way to seafood, staying at a fantastic beach hotel - Anakao Ocean Lodge - where the Italian owner took charge of deciding how the day's catch was to be cooked. We had three courses for both lunch and dinner and the entrees and mains were always fresh seafood, imaginatively cooked and served, and always delicious! We had everything from warm potato and octopus salad, to fish fillet with vanilla sauce, to a melt-in-the-mouth fish carpaccio.

A pirogue - a traditional Malagasy fishing boat

All round, a great culinary adventure and we came back with a big bundle of Madagascan vanilla to play with too.