Indulgences

1. Kafe

   Coffee

   Usage

   The coffee plant is Coffea arabica (family Rubiaceae). Haitian coffee is brewed strong and drunk very sweet. The brands you will see are Café Selecto (founded 1898) and Rebo. To ask for it unsweetened: "San sik, souple"

2. Dous makòs

   Dous makòs (layered milk fudge)

   Usage

   A sweet, rectangular bonbon of pale colour. Milk is reduced with sugar and combined with chocolate, vanilla and rose powder, giving five layers of cream, pink and brown. A speciality of Petit-Goâve (Tigwav), which holds a Kanaval Dous Makòs in its honour

3. Pen patat

   Sweet potato pudding

   Usage

   A sweet bread made with cinnamon, evaporated milk and sweet potato. Despite pen ("bread") in the name it is not a bread but a dense baked pudding

4. Doukounou

   Cornmeal pudding steamed in banana leaf

   Usage

   A manje lakay (home-cooked dish): cornmeal beaten with cane syrup, wrapped in banana leaf and tied with banana fibre, then steamed. Handed over still in the leaf — unwrap before eating

5. Chanmchanm

   Roasted corn and peanut powder

   Usage

   Like a corn powder, eaten as a dessert. Corn and peanuts are roasted separately, ground, then mixed with sugar, salt, cinnamon and ginger. Eaten as a dry powder — have a drink to hand

6. Kremas

   Kremas (sweet coconut-and-rum cream liqueur)

   Usage

   An alcoholic drink, cream-coloured and sweet — pressed grated coconut, condensed milk, sugar, evaporated milk, rum, cinnamon, nutmeg, anise and vanilla. Served cold at Christmas and other celebrations. ⚠ Sweet and easy to drink, but it is genuinely alcoholic

7. Wonm

   Rum

   Usage

   Haitian rum is distinctive in using sugarcane juice directly rather than molasses. The brand you will see everywhere is Barbancourt. ⚠ Strong — take it diluted or in small measures

8. Kleren

   Kleren (raw sugarcane spirit)

   Usage

   A greyish, high-alcohol, strong spirit made from sugarcane and produced all over Haiti. ⚠ Less refined and stronger than rum — take it in small glasses. Quality varies a great deal between producers

9. Byè

   Beer

   Usage

   An alcoholic drink. The most widely drunk brand in Haiti is Prestige, a mild lager. To ask for a cold one: "Yon byè fre, souple"

10. Sigarèt

    Cigarette

    Usage

    Used as "fimen sigarèt" (to smoke cigarettes) and "machin pou woule sigarèt" (cigarette-rolling machine). ⚠ Smoking raises cancer incidence. To decline: "Mwen pa fimen"

11. Tabak

    Tobacco

    Usage

    A psychoactive product manufactured from the dried leaves of the common tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum). ⚠ Tobacco causes some 6 million deaths a year worldwide, about 600,000 of them non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke; it creates strong dependency and leads to cardiovascular disease and cancer

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