How a Hong Kong chilli sauce became a sandwich favourite 8,000km away on Réunion Island
Réunion Island’s famous bouchon gratiné, made from a baguette, dumplings, chilli sauce and cheese, reflects the island’s mix of inhabitants
While going over his business ledgers, Daniel Chan, the fourth-generation owner of Hong Kong’s Koon Chun sauce factory, made an interesting discovery. One of his biggest groups of clients came from Réunion Island, a French department in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, with a population just shy of 900,000.
“We were sending two containers of soy, oyster and chilli sauce there every month,” Chan says. “I was so curious why they would like our sauce so much.”
Chan took the 36-hour journey to Réunion, with stops in Mauritius and South Africa along the way, to find out.
Réunion Island was discovered by Arab and Portuguese sailors before the French claimed it in 1642, naming it Île Bourbon. It was initially used as a supply stop for ships, before the French East India Company began developing plantations, using slave labour from Africa and Madagascar to grow coffee, spices and later sugar.
The island was renamed Réunion during the French Revolution in 1793 but reverted to Bourbon under Napoleon before finally becoming Réunion again in 1848, when France abolished slavery. The 19th century saw the arrival of indentured labourers from India, China and Southeast Asia, shaping its multicultural society.
In 1946, Réunion became an overseas French department. Today, its history of colonisation, slavery and immigration is reflected in its Creole culture, blending African, European, Indian and Chinese influences.