country Essentials · 10 foods
Suriname Essentials
A considered first route through Suriname: the foods that carry its everyday habits, celebrations, ingredients, and memory.
Explore all Suriname foods →THE
ESSENTIALS
The complete shortlist
10 foods to know.
Each selection includes the reason it belongs here—so this is a guide, not just a pile of names.
Suriname
Pom
Grated pomtajer baked with chicken and orange juice — no Surinamese party happens without it.
Suriname
Roti
A flaky dhal-filled roti eaten by hand beside curried chicken, potato and long bean.
Suriname
Moksi Alesi
One pot of rice with salted meat and smoked fish, where the zoutvlees does the work.
Suriname
Bakabana
Black-ripe plantain fried in batter and served, oddly and correctly, with peanut sauce.
Suriname
Peanut Soup
Pindasoep
Thick ground-peanut soup with pounded plantain tom tom balls sitting in the bowl.
Paramaribo, Suriname
Parbo Bier
Parbo
Ordered as a djogo — the one-litre bottle shared around the table in small glasses.
Paramaribo, Suriname
Boyo
Cassava and coconut baked until sticky enough to be closer to pudding than cake.
Suriname
Telo
Cassava boiled then fried, with salt cod and sambal, eaten out of a paper tray.
French Guiana
Awara Soup
Awarasoep
Two days of work at Easter, and the saying is that eating it brings you back.
Suriname
Madame Jeanette Pepper
Madame Jeanette
The yellow lantern chilli that goes into the pot whole and is taken back out.