#37 - Comoros

Where in the world?

Exactly.

Comoros is a tiny archipelago of 3 volcanic islands in the Indian Ocean between Mozambique and Madagascar. Originally discovered by the Portugese and colonized by the French, it attained independence in a 1975 referendum. 98% of the people are Sunni Muslim and Arabic and French are the official languages. It's a small country, with less than a million people, and the primary industries are tourism (beautiful beaches apparently!) and perfume distillation. In fact, the biggest export after vanilla is ylang-ylang which is a perfume essence.

Due to the fact that it is an island country, seafood plays a major role in the food of Comoros. The national dish is Langouste a la Vanille, which is basically lobster with vanilla-infused butter. I imagine there are differences between the lobsters of the warm Indian Ocean and the cold waters of the North Atlantic , but we used what we had access to. The vanilla-infused butter was initially a bit off-putting, but was actually a really quite tasty. It is served over sautéed spinach and onions.

Along with the lobster we had Soupe Faux Pois, which is basically a pea soup made creamy with coconut milk and a bit spicy with some cayenne and ginger. It was surprisingly bland, but with a kick of cayenne. Nobody was a fan.

So now we know where Comoros is. And we know a little bit about it. And we confirmed that I love lobster!