A taste of French Guiana’s culinary specialties

The marketplace flavors of Guiana.

In Guiana, the cuisine is a thousand leaves of flavors blown in from different continents. Fine, delicate and enriched by 400 years of history, it entrances all the way from the market, from the terroir products to the sea, and through the tasty recipes concocted on site—here is a taste to get you drooling before a visit to French Guiana!

Guiana has many surprises and discoveries—the cuisine is no exception. Culinary specialities abound, the result of four centuries of mixed history.

Among the most typical and renowned dishes, it is essential to sample Awara broth (made from palm pulp), grilled fish, the Colombos (meat-based stew and vegetables with curry) and seafood prepared with the vegetables and spices of Guiana. Also not to be missed: the short broth called "blaff," tomato-base enhanced with peppers, or roast cougnade (grilled fish).

Muscade, ginger, cinnamon, chilli pepper, exotic fruits and cayenne sorbets

The market is indispensable for making local recipes with spices such as nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, pepper and chilli pepper.

For dessert, you can sit for awhile on the terrace of one of the ice cream vendors or one of the pastries shops of Cayenne to enjoy the typical “mule egg”, a cream turnover, Cayenne sorbets with exotic fruits, or one of the delicious local sweets based on cream and fruit.

Getting to Guiana