Star Gazing in Paradise

When the constance hotels and resorts group paired chefs from their indian ocean properties with international michelin-starred chefs, the resulting constellation shone with sheer artistic brilliance. Our food ed claire was there to experience the mastery.

- Claire Ferrandi

The air is tropical, balmy and laced with intoxicating scents of coconut, spice and fresh coriander. Warm, in atmosphere and temperature, and rich in cultural diversity and colourful scenes, the Flacq Market, on the north-eastern side of Mauritius, is a bustling centre of daily hubbub where ordinary people come to do their shopping. Without any walls, the market space is outdoors, but covered by a large, corrugated iron roof, interspersed with skylights, and held up by metal poles. Selections of fresh ingredients are tipped onto the kind of mechanical scale found in rustic farm kitchens, then bagged, before a quick exchange of cash and a few words spoken in gentle, French-based Mauritian Creole. All around us, small moments of calm interaction between strangers juxtapose the marketplace bustle.

As we weave through the market goers and along the produce-filled tables, it’s clear to me that Mauritius has so much more to offer than just its famed, impossibly turquoise seas, soft, sandy beaches and sunshine. It’s a melting pot of cultures and the food is sensational. Infused with influences from its mélange of inhabitants (Creole, French, Chinese and Indian cultures), the Indian Ocean island is also blessed with fertile soils, so the local harvest is incredible. What better spot, then, is there to hold the annual Constance Hotels and Resorts Festival Culinaire Bernard Loiseau?

Named after the legendary late French chef Bernard Loiseau, the festival is held at Constance Belle Mare Plage, a five-star resort on the east coast of the island. This week long extravaganza, which is both a festival and a competition, is – above all – about uniting chefs from diverse horizons around the exchange of experience, knowledge and a shared passion: the love of cooking.