The resulting recipes include Korean tofu Jjigae, chicken jollof, Mauritian noodles and pan-fried plantain amongst many, many others and, of course, her Mauritian heritage belies almost everything. “Both my parents are Mauritian, and they came over here in the Seventies; they were invited over by the Commonwealth. I was born and bred in Southampton, but we have African, French, Indian and Chinese heritage, with all those cultures influencing who we are. The food, the religion, the language spoken: it makes us quite unique. And I think when I first did MasterChef, at that moment in time, African food wasn’t showcased at all.”
Shelina tries to go back to Mauritius every couple of years. “For anyone who loves food, you want to go to a restaurant at that moment where you understand the people, the culture, the place and its identity through hospitality. That’s why I’m a chef. That’s why we, as Mauritians, are considered incredibly hospitable. It’s like part of our DNA.” With that, Shelina shares five restaurants that, for her, embodied the places where they reside, all of which clearly gave her immense joy and, for some, inspired bits of her new book.
Chef Andre Bernard is a fine-dining chef and the owner of Dre Flavours. One of the things that he wanted to do was to introduce people – both tourists and locals – to Grenadian foods and flavours by stripping them all the way back to the flavours of home. He is deeply passionate about Grenada’s spices. Bernard’s grandfather was Indian, so there’s this really interesting mix of ethnic diversity, and his food feels really personal. We had breadfruit literally hanging from the trees above a lovely, flowing river, and this absolutely incredible pumpkin-coconut soup, almost like a velouté. It takes great skill to get that emulsion right, that blending of the fat from the coconut. In Grenada, they have nutmeg on their flag – it’s known as the Isle of Spice. Nutmeg, mace, cinnamon and pimento; those four were prevalent in every one of Bernard’s dishes. He also made a tomato stew that reminded me of our Creole ragi, an African-inspired dish. And it was rich, salty, sweet, sour and tangy with all the same spice mix in it.
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