Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Papuan recipes, part of Oceania. This page provides links to all the New Caledonian recipes presented on this site, with 19 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the New Caledonian recipes added to this site.

New Caledonia's food is a vibrant blend of French, Melanesian, and other Pacific influences, characterized by fresh seafood, tropical fruits, and unique dishes like bougna (meat or fish with root vegetables wrapped in banana leaves and cooked over hot stones). Other specialties include crayfish, venison, civets (like bat stew), and sweet poe, a dessert often made with taro or pumpkin.

These recipes, for the major part, originate in New Caledonia. Otherwise they are fusion recipes with major New Caledonian influences.

New Caledonia, Nouvelle-Calédonie in French, is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, 220 km (140 mi) southwest of Vanuatu and 1,210 km (750 mi) east of Australia. Located 16,100 km (10,000 mi) from Metropolitan France, it forms a sui generis collectivity of the French Republic, a legal status unique in overseas France, enshrined in a dedicated chapter of the French Constitution and with an on-going project to a status of State of New Caledonia.

The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Chesterfield Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of Pines, and a few remote islets. The Chesterfield Islands are in the Coral Sea. French people, especially locals, call Grande Terre le Caillou, a nickname also used more generally for the entire New Caledonia. Pro-independence Kanak parties use the name (la) Kanaky (pron. [(la) kanaki]) to refer to New Caledonia, a term coined in the 1980s from the ethnic name of the indigenous Melanesian Kanak people who make up 41% of New Caledonia's population. New Caledonia is associated with the European Union as an overseas country and territory (OCT).

New Caledonia has a land area of 18,575 km² divided into three provinces. The North and South Provinces are on the New Caledonian mainland, while the Loyalty Islands Province is a series of four inhabited islands off the east coast of mainland (from north to south: Ouvéa, Lifou, Tiga, and Maré). New Caledonia's population of 271,407 (October 2019 census) is of diverse origins and varies by geography; in the North and Loyalty Islands Provinces, the indigenous Kanak people predominate, while the wealthy South Province contains significant populations of European (Caldoches and Metropolitan French), Kanak, and Polynesian (mostly Wallisian) origin, as well as smaller groups of Southeast Asian, Pied-Noir, and North African heritage. The capital of New Caledonia is Nouméa.

The rural and diverse population is a result of highly mountainous geography. The land supports around 5% of all known species, and the export-driven economy is also dependent on natural resources. Papua New Guinea is a developing economy where nearly 40% of the population are subsistence farmers living relatively independently of the cash economy. The country retains close ties to Australia, and has enhanced ties with both Asia and the Pacific.

Etymology: New Caledonia comes from the Latin name for Scotland, 'Caledonia', which British explorer James Cook coined in 1774 because the island's mountainous landscape reminded him of his native Scotland. The name Caledonia itself is thought to derive from a Proto-Celtic root meaning 'hard' or possibly 'hard-footed', which survives in the Welsh 'Celyddon' or 'Coed Celyddion' (Caledonian Woodland).

New Caledonian Cuisine:

Due to low levels of domestic horticulture, fresh tropical fruits feature less highly in New Caledonian cuisine than in other Pacific nations, instead relying on rice, fish and root vegetables such as taro. One way this is frequently prepared is in a buried-oven-style feast, known as bougna. Wrapped in banana leaves, the fish, taro, banana and other seafood are buried with hot rocks to cook, then dug up and eaten.

New Caledonia's food is a vibrant blend of French, Melanesian, and other Pacific influences, characterized by fresh seafood, tropical fruits, and unique dishes like bougna (meat or fish with root vegetables wrapped in banana leaves and cooked over hot stones). Other specialties include crayfish, venison, civets (like bat stew), and sweet poe, a dessert often made with taro or pumpkin.

Key Dishes & Ingredients:
Bougna: The most famous traditional dish, featuring chicken, fish, or seafood and root vegetables wrapped in banana leaves and slow-cooked in an earth oven.
Seafood: With abundant waters, fresh seafood is a staple.
Crayfish: A delicacy found in the local cuisine.
Venison: Increasingly popular, thanks to a large deer population.
Poe: A sweet dish made from ingredients like taro, pumpkin, or bananas, often topped with coconut milk.
Civet de Rousette: A traditional dish of bat stew, reflecting local ingredients and cooking methods.