The Incredible Thick-Lipped Vegetable

This morning, Maxence and I went for a stroll towards Barbès and Chateau-Rouge, a more ethnic part of the 18th arrondissement, just a few blocks from where we live. In the rue de Clignancourt, we stumbled upon a few small stores selling food (mostly) from the Antilles - the French Caribbean. We both love browsing around exotic grocery stores, and these reminded us very nicely of our recent vacation, as the Seychelles cuisine is somewhat similar to that of the Antilles.

We ended up buying a few goodies : coconut milk, a jar of hot mango pickle and a jar of tandoori paste, whole smoked herring, a piece of dried salted cod (we decided to try and get past the strong smell), plantain chips and sweet potato chips, passion fruit, guava fruit, sweet potatoes from Egypt, hot peppers, and a few christophines, white and green.

Christophines, also called chouchous, chouchoutes or chayottes, are these weird-looking vegetables, and are said to taste like potato or zucchini depending on the source. Intriguing, no? The most popular uses seem to be au gratin or boiled.

Ah, the sweet and distinctive happiness of finding a new vegetable to try!