The Male fish & produce market
Markets are always a fascinating place to visit and offer great insights into local life. The Maldives are well known for its tuna industry and Male as the capital hosts an important fish market.
These guys just got off a boat
While the famous fish market Tsukiji in Tokyo is still on my bucket list, I am sure it is multiple times bigger than what Male has to offer. Nevertheless, it was unique to see the number of tuna fish lined up for sale and several men gutting the fish for customer. The amount on offer was so big, I wonder whether it is all purely for local consumption.
More fish on their way to the market
Proud stall owner
More fish
And then some more
For a change of perspective: taken from the second level
Fish being gutted
Fish being gutted
Fish head curry anyone?
Sashimi?
With all those fish lined up you really wander whether the masses that we pull out of the ocean are sustainable… With chicken or beef it is at least easy to grow more…
My goal was to buy a piece of tuna at one of the stalls and have it cooked by a street vendor. Unfortunately there are not street vendors…in all of Male, nor is it common to just buy a slice. So I tried to restaurant upstairs. But also there, except for canned tuna, the menu (ok, it was breakfast time) seemed to be focused on toast and sausages.
So I left it at that and wandered around the local produce market as well. Not quite as impressive but interesting to see what is actually grown in the Maldives (which doesn’t seem to be all that much). Small mangoes were on offer in abundance as well as some kind of mini peppers.
Maldivian mangoes for sale on the street
More Maldivian mangoes
A rather exotic fruit
Some sort of chilies
Leaves to chew beetle nut (?)
Veggies at the Male produce market
And to finish off this post, let’s get back to some more fish – this time dried
For me it was the highlight of the Male visit but even then, no need to factor in more than 30 minutes for a visit.
