Rodriguan food

The octopus has a closed season

Twice a year, taking octopus in Rodrigues becomes a criminal offence. The Rodrigues Regional Assembly (Octopus Closed Season) Regulations 2012 prohibit collecting, killing, fishing, landing or possessing it by any means, except for research with written authorisation. Anyone holding five kilos or more on the first day of a closure has to declare it. A first conviction carries a fine of Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000; a second, up to Rs 10,000 and imprisonment.

It works. Landings fell from about 770 tonnes a year in 1994 to a low near 250. Thirteen years after the first closure in 2012 they were back to roughly 600 tonnes, and at the October 2025 reopening fishers landed 18,504 kg in a single day — against 16,384 kg at the same moment the year before, with bigger animals.

About 1,200 fishers are affected each time. During a closure they are redeployed across 58 designated sites to maritime surveillance, reforestation, and clearing forest and rivers. That is the part worth knowing as a visitor: the island pays for its own conservation out of the same pockets it protects.

What the words on the menu mean

Ourite

Octopus — the word is Mauritian and Rodriguan Creole, pieuvre in French. It is the island's signature ingredient, most often as ourite rougaille or a curry, and sometimes dried.

Rougaille

Not a dish but a sauce: spiced tomato and onion built on garlic, ginger, chilli and thyme. It is common across Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles, which is why you meet it attached to almost anything.

Tourte rodriguaise

A shortcrust pie with a fruit filling, classically coconut and papaya with cinnamon. Sold at the Port Mathurin market in a dozen variations — chocolate-coconut, coconut-honey-lime, guava, pineapple, mango.

Piments limon

Specific to Rodrigues: small pickled green limes, ground and mixed with chillies. If you take one thing home, take a jar of this.

Cono-cono

A lagoon shellfish, served as a salad with a homemade vinaigrette, green leaves, fresh ginger and lime.

Farata

A layered flatbread, thicker and chewier than a roti, served with curries, chutneys and pickles.

Boulettes

Dumplings of Chinese origin, most often boulette chouchou — chayote, also called niouk yen — served in broth or as a salad.

Mine frite

The Sino-Mauritian dish of egg noodles fried in a wok, usually with carrot, cabbage and whatever else is good that day.

Where to actually eat

The best food on Rodrigues is served in people's houses. A table d'hôte is a single fixed menu at a set price, historically at the host's own table — book a day ahead, because it is cooked for the number of people who said they were coming.

For everything else there is the Port Mathurin market. It runs through the week, but Saturday is when the island turns out: achards, piment, honey, salted and dried fish, red kidney beans, and tourte in coconut, papaya, honey, chocolate and lime.

Common questions

What is ourite?

Octopus, in Mauritian and Rodriguan Creole. It is the most Rodriguan thing on any menu here, usually served as a rougaille or a curry. It is fished on foot on the reef flats at low tide, largely by women known as piqueuses working with iron-tipped sticks.

Why is octopus sometimes unavailable in Rodrigues?

Because the fishery is closed by law twice a year. The Rodrigues Regional Assembly (Octopus Closed Season) Regulations 2012 make it an offence to collect, kill, fish, land or possess octopus during a closed period. The dates are not fixed: the Commissioner responsible for fisheries sets each closure and announces it in at least two local newspapers.

Does the closed season actually work?

Yes, measurably. Landings fell from about 770 tonnes a year in 1994 to a low of about 250 tonnes. Thirteen years after the closures began in 2012, they had recovered to roughly 600 tonnes a year. At the October 2025 reopening, 18,504 kg were landed in a single day against 16,384 kg at the equivalent 2024 opening — and the animals were bigger.

What is a table d'hôte?

A single fixed menu at a set price, historically served at the host's own table for guests staying in the house. On Rodrigues it is the best eating on the island and usually needs a day's notice.

When is the Port Mathurin market?

It runs through the week, but Saturday is the day the island turns out. Expect achards, piment, local honey, salted and dried fish and octopus, red kidney beans, and tourte in every variation.

Is Rodriguan honey a protected product?

No, and it is worth being precise. Mauritius only gained a legal route to register geographical indications when the Industrial Property Act 2019 came into force on 31 January 2022. Rodriguan honey has no GI. It is excellent, artisanal and made in small quantities — 171 known beekeepers produced about 15 tonnes in 2013/14, most with fewer than ten hives — but 'protected' would be the wrong word.