La gastronomy de Suriname It is the result of the confluence of diverse cultures from the American, Asian and European continents. Think that it is the only country in America that speaks dutch! Suriname is located north of South America and was formerly known as Dutch Guiana due to its membership, until 1975, to the Netherlands. Historically, the South American territory was occupied by European colonialists (Dutch and British) who traded slaves from Africa.
They managed to escape to the jungle where they organized themselves into communities until they were recognized as free groups. mid century XIX The Dutch colonies abolished slavery. And who replaced the work that slaves did on the farms? immigrants Indians, Javanese (Indonesia) and Chinese. Thus, these nationalities together with the criollos descendants of slaves, africans, american indians and a european minority made up the Surinamese population. The 90% of people that live in Suriname they have ancestors who come from other countries and regions.
Confluence of cultures in the gastronomy of Suriname
For this reason we can see ingredients, culinary techniques and dishes from different places merged in the Surinamese cuisine. Coming from the African culinary tradition we find dishes such as peanut soup and the "moksi alesi«. The latter consists of a combination of rice, vegetables y stir fried fish. There are different versions of this dish. In fact, one of them “blaka ai pesi”, it is sold in Netherlands under the name black bean.
The indian immigrants introduced into the gastronomy of Suriname el roast, a bread used in Indian cuisine. It is usually served with potatoes, green beans and chicken curry. The latter belongs to the selection of curries that the Indians brought to Suriname territory. We can also taste Indonesian cuisine in the neighborhood of blauwgrond en Paramaribo, Capital Suriname. Some of the most typical Javanese dishes are «"nasi" (fried rice), "bami" (fried noodles), "satay" (skewer with peanut sauce), "dawette" (coconut drink) or the “saoto soup” (with chicken, egg and vegetables).
We can also find numerous dishes of Chinese, European or Jewish origin.
