Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Mayotte recipes, part of East Africa. This page provides links to all the Mahoran recipes presented on this site, with 23 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Mahoran recipes added to this site.

Mayotte (French: Mayotte, Shimaore: Maore), officially: Collectivité départementale de Mayotte; the Departmental Collectivity of Mayotte is an overseas collectivity of France consisting of a main island, Grande-Terre (or Mahoré), a smaller island, Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi), and several islets around these two. The capital and largest city is Mamoudzou and in 1974 the country voted to remain a territory of France. French is the official language but native languages include: Shimaore (a Comorian LAnguage), Kibushi (a Malagasy language), Kiantalaotsi (another Malagasy language) and Arabic.

Though a French territory, the cuisine of Mayotte has been influenced by Indian, Arabic, French, and African cuisines. The cuisine also makes great use of spices such as coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. In Mayotte the basic meals are those containing meat and rice, but a lot of seafood is also cooked in this island. Exotic dishes consist of freshly caught fish, crab and calamari, which can be prepared together or separately. A typical meal will always include different combinations based on meat and rice, enhanced with vanilla, cloves, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg and cinnamon. Common seafood include grouper, tuna and octopus. Bean and squash soups are also common staples.

These recipes, for the major part, originate in Mayotte. Otherwise they are fusion recipes with major Mahoran influences.

Mayotte, officially the Department of Mayotte (Département de Mayotte in French) is an overseas department and region and single territorial collectivity of France. It is one of the overseas departments of France as well as one of the 18 regions of France, with the same status as the departments of Metropolitan France. It is an outermost region of the European Union and, as an overseas department of France, part of the eurozone.

Mayotte is located in the northern part of the Mozambique Channel in the western Indian Ocean off the coast of Southeastern Africa, between the northwestern part of the island of Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique on the continent. Mayotte consists of a main island, Grande-Terre (or Maore), a smaller island, Petite-Terre (or Pamanzi), as well as several islets around these two. Mayotte's land area is 374 square kilometres (144 sq mi) and, with its 320,901 people according to January 2024 official estimates,[1] is very densely populated at 858 inhabitants per km2 (2,228 per sq mi). The biggest city and prefecture is Mamoudzou on the larger Grande-Terre. The Dzaoudzi–Pamandzi International Airport is located on the neighbouring smaller island of Petite-Terre. The territory is also known as Maore, the native name of its main island.

French is the official language and is spoken as a second language by an increasing part of the population, with 63% of the population 14 years and older reporting in the 2007 census that they could speak it.[4] There are two native languages of Mayotte. The most commonly spoken is Shimaore, and the lesser spoken is a Malagasy language called Kibushi, of which there are two dialects; Kibushi sakalava, most closely related to the Sakalava dialect of Malagasy, and Kibushi antalaotsi, most closely related to the dialect spoken by the Antalaotra of Madagascar. Both dialects have been influenced by Shimaore.

The islands were populated from neighbouring East Africa, with a later arrival of Arabs, who brought the religious faith of Islam. A sultanate was established in 1500. The vast majority of the population today is Muslim. In the 19th century, Mayotte was conquered by Andriantsoly, former king of Iboina on Madagascar. He sold the islands in 1841 to France (Kingdom of France and its later July Monarchy of 1830-1848) and its overseas French Empire, and Mayotte integrated to the Crown of France of King Louis Philippe I (1773-1850, reigned 1830-1848, of the royal dynasty of the House of Bourbon-Orleans), then seven years later with the subsequent Second French Republic (1848-1870) after the French Revolution of 1848. In the immediate aftermath of French sovereignty over the islands, slavery was abolished and laborers were imported to the area to work in fields and plantations. Mayotte chose to remain with France[5] after the nearby Comoros declared its independence following their 1974 independence referendum.[5] Mayotte however became the 101st department of France (Fifth French Republic) on 31 March 2011 and became an outermost associated region of the European Union on 1 January 2014, following a March 2009 referendum with an overwhelming result in favour of remaining in the status of a French department. The issue of illegal immigration became very important in local political life in the 2010s and 2020s which led France to organize Operation Wuambushu.

The name 'Mayotte' The name is believed to come from Mawuti, contraction of the Arabic جزيرة الموت Jazīrat al-Mawt – meaning 'island of death' (maybe due to the dangerous reefs circling the island) and corrupted to Mayotta in Portuguese, later turned into French. However, the local name is Mahore, and the Arabic etymology is doubtful.

Mayotte Food and Cuisine:

Though a French territory, the cuisine of Mayotte has been influenced by Indian, Arabic, French, and African cuisines. The cuisine also makes great use of spices such as coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. In Mayotte the basic meals are those containing meat and rice, but a lot of seafood is also cooked in this island. Exotic dishes consist of freshly caught fish, crab and calamari, which can be prepared together or separately. A typical meal will always include different combinations based on meat and rice, enhanced with vanilla, cloves, cardamom, coriander, nutmeg and cinnamon. Common seafood include grouper, tuna and octopus. Bean and squash soups are also common staples.

Many of the dishes of Mayotte are prepared in the neighbouring Comoros Islands. Mahoran cuisine is also strongly influenced by the foods of neighbouring Madagascar. Mahorese dishes are mainly accompanied by starchy foods: rice, banana, cassava and breadfruit. There are different types of cooking, massindza for ripe bananas, cooked with frying oil or in steam, bata-bata is a method of cooking in water or steam for cassava, green banana or breadfruit. Beredre is bread fried with frying oil, mataba is prepared with cassava leaves (brèdes) and coconut milk.