Holiday Ayo - Cuisine in New Caledonia is a beautiful marriage of island style, Melanesian tastes and the best of French flavors and flair. Just like in France, food, coffee and wine are all important aspects of local life in this Pacific country and they take this very seriously. Be sure to get a real taste of New Caledonia with this unique dish you must try.

1. Bougna

source: Arousing Appetites

Bougna is the most traditional dish you will find in New Caledonia and a great example of local Kanak cuisine, rather than French influences. It is made of chicken, lobster or fish mixed with root vegetables such as sweet potato, sweet potato and coconut milk, wrapped in a banana leaf. The parcels are then placed into earth ovens where they cook over hot rocks. This style of cooking is common in the Pacific Islands, although the ingredients will vary between countries.

2. Leut de rousette

source: Marie Claire

Boiled bats, anyone? It might not sound very appetizing if you've never tried a rousette (literal translation: flying fox), but bat soup is a popular dish in New Caledonia. The bat meat is often left to marinate in a red wine sauce before being prepared as a ragout.

3. Oysters and mud crabs

source: Travel2Next

Mussels and mud crabs are common throughout New Caledonia. Like most seafood in New Caledonia, oysters are usually served natural with a simple vinaigrette while crab sticks are often accompanied with mayonnaise or aoli.

4. Coconut crab

source: Natural History Museum

Coconut crabs are unique to the Loyalty Islands, where they have become a local specialty in Ouvea. Crabs, which are also found on the island of Niue and other parts of the Pacific, eat coconuts. The pincers are very strong as they need to have the strength to open the coconut to survive. It is usually served as coconut curry.

5. Vol au vent des buah de mer

source: iStock

Seafood vol au vent is a French-influenced pastry dish. It's a bit like seafood chowder in a puff pastry casing. It usually consists of scallops, New Caledonian prawns, fish fillets and scallops, combined with a creamy sauce before being seared into a pastry shell.