Guadeloupean
The butterfly island — bokit off the fryer, colombo in the pot.
Bokit
Guadeloupe's beloved street sandwich — a disc of unleavened dough fried until puffed and golden, split open and stuffed with salt cod, chicken, ham, cheese, or vegetables and a fiery Creole sauce. Descended from Carib cassava bread and slave-era journey cakes; eaten hot from roadside stands.
View page →Guadeloupean cooking shares the Creole base of the French Antilles with its own island icons. The most distinctive is the bokit: a fried, unleavened bread split and stuffed with salt cod, chicken, or cheese — descended from Carib cassava bread. Colombo de porc is the festive pork curry; dombrés aux crevettes simmers little flour dumplings with shrimp; bébélé (from Marie-Galante) is a tripe-and-breadfruit-and-dumpling stew. Ti-nain morue pairs boiled green bananas with salt cod; migan is a savory breadfruit mash. The sweet of the southern Les Saintes islands is tourment d'amour — a coconut tart over jam in a shortcrust shell. Flour, salt cod, pork, green banana, and breadfruit — that is the Guadeloupean pantry.
On the Map
Where this cuisine is found
The Palate
Start Here
A disc of unleavened dough fried until puffed and golden, split and stuffed with salt cod, chicken, or cheese and a fiery Creole sauce.
Why start here · Guadeloupe's beloved street sandwich, descended from Carib cassava bread — the island's handheld icon.
Pork braised in the Tamil-derived colombo spice blend with potato and chayote, finished with lime.
Why start here · The Sunday and festive curry of Guadeloupe, over rice and red beans.
A shortcrust shell spread with guava jam and topped with a moist coconut sponge, baked golden.
Why start here · The 'torment of love' tart of Les Saintes — the signature sweet of Guadeloupe's southern islands.
The Pantry
Regional Styles
Grande-Terre & Pointe-à-Pitre
The urban half and largest city, home of the street bokit, the pork colombo, and green-banana-and-saltfish.
Marie-Galante & the Isles
The 'big island' and Les Saintes, home of the grand tripe stew bébélé and the coconut tourment d'amour.
Everyday Provisions
The home table of dumpling pots and breadfruit mashes across the islands.
How They Cook
Techniques that define this cuisine
