BISCUITERIE H. RAULT

Even before you enter the holy of holies, the sacred lair with the scent of warm cookies, the guide takes you to the family well, where the only hydraulic ram pump ever invented by the Montgolfier brothers captures the river's energy: a source of pride almost as much as the cakes... and like a signal. Press the decelerator and you're deep in Mauritius, far from the lagoon, the glamour and the glitter. An authentic sequence. Is this the story of a transfer, a fantasy, a passing on? At any rate, it's the story of a filiation, an act of love. The ancestor, Fabien Rault, comes from Brittany and carries with him the buttery taste of the galettes of his childhood. The son pursues the dream and, with the means at hand, tries to reproduce the flavor of the cookies so often recounted. For want of wheat, he tried manioc. In 1870, a company was born.

Although it is unique in the world and supplies export markets, it will always be a family business, rooted in its ^19th-century roots. Here, the machines have the solemn look of antiques, the dough is molded by ladies in charlottes and the cookies are packed by hand, under the watchful eye of the boss in front of her account book. A tropical version of Balzac. You have to dare to enter the back streets of Mahébourg to discover this gem, to experience this little moment of nothing in this unlikely space. We are kindly given the keys to the production process, but not the doses of the recipe, fiercely kept secret by the members of the small family business! The artisanal, unchanged process produces cookies and galettes without preservatives, coloring agents or binding agents, making it one of the healthiest cakes on the planet.

During the First World War, the cookie factory even helped to feed part of the local population, and flourished. But in the 1980s, due to a shortage of manioc and a difficult economic situation, the factory came close to bankruptcy and had to resort to importing dried manioc from Madagascar, then initiating guided tours to ensure the survival of the tradition.

Thanks to these efforts, every day more than 15,000 cakes are made on the premises, in seven flavors: butter, coconut, milk, aniseed, vanilla, chocolate and cinnamon, not to mention the filled galettes that can only be purchased at the cookie factory or in Mahébourg supermarkets - almost a privilege (!). The visit naturally ends with a tasting session.