How Mauritius became a hotbed of Chinese food
The Indian Ocean island dines out on Hakka-style dishes including fried noodles and meatballs, thanks to Chinese traders who migrated there under French and British rule
Ask people to name a Mauritian dish and they’ll likely draw a blank. This remote island in the Indian Ocean was first discovered by Arab sailors, in about 900AD, and by Europeans in the 16th century. Although the Portuguese passed by often, they never settled. It was the Dutch who finally claimed possession, later that century.
Then came the French and the British, whose agricultural and trade ambitions brought labourers, immigrants and traders from Africa, India and China.
Understanding this history makes the seemingly disjointed and diverse patchwork of foods (from flatbreads to fried noodles) sold in the streets of Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, a little easier to navigate. A number of snacks are identified as Chinese, and have long been part of the local French-Creole lexicon, including “mine frit” (fried noodles) and “boulettes” (Hakka-style meatballs).
According to the Central Intelligence Agency’s World Factbook, only 3 per cent of the population in Mauritius are ethnically Chinese. However, Chinese-style restaurants, food stalls and dishes are immensely popular.
Yang’s father is third-generation Sino-Mauritian, their family originating from Meixian, in Guangdong, a predominantly Hakka area.
“Most of the Chinese in Mauritius are Hakka, and they weren’t usually well off, so the food reflects that,” says Yang.
The name mine frit, meanwhile, is a combination of the Cantonese or Hakka pronunciation for noodle, mein, and the French word for “fried”. “There’s also the vegetarian mine tounis [from the French tout nu], which means ‘naked noodles’,” he says.
