FOOD, DIET AND NUTRITION IN THE MALDIVES
Amount of calories consumed each day: 2,550 compared to 1,590 in Eritrea and 3,800 in the United States. The Maldives rank 110th out of 172 countries. [Source: U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, Wikipedia ]
Annual per capita consumption of fish and shell-fish in the mid-1990s in the Maldives averaged 175.5 kilograms (386.9 pounds, live weight equivalent), more than any country in the world. Rose Prince wrote in The Telegraph: “Tuna itself is revered by the Maldivian people. Skipjack is eaten with every meal, either salted and dried (known as 'Maldives fish’) or curried. It is the islands’ only plentiful source of animal protein, and along with coconut one of the few foods the country produces. The 1,192 islands of the Maldives amount to only about 180 square miles of land, little of which can be cultivated. Most of the islands’ food is imported. [Source: Rose Prince, The Telegraph, March 11, 2010]
Ibn Battuta (1304-1369) is regarded as the greatest traveler of all time. He visited the Maldives and stayed there a few months. He told of eating many products of the coconut (coconut milk, juice, "meat", and sweet honey from the sap of the tree), and rice, fish, salted meat, fowl, quail, and some fruits." He attributed the islanders "extraordinary vigor in lovemaking" to a diet of coconuts and fish. "As for me, It had four wives, not counting the concubines. Each day I made a general tour...and I passed the night with each in their turn." [Source: Thomas Abercrombie, National Geographic, December 1991]
The Maldives can not produce many agricultural products and providing enough nutrition has been an issue in the past. According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”: In the 1990s, it was “estimated by the Maldives Ministry of Planning and National Development that almost 50 percent of children suffer, to different degrees, from stunting and wasting in their physical development. This is due to malnutrition in the more remote and less easily accessible islands. This is mainly caused by limited agricultural potential and the high cost of imports. Consequently, the majority of Maldivians consume a relatively restricted range of foodstuffs, with rice, fish, and coconut being the staples. A 1993 survey found that less than 30 percent of children ate fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, the annual average intake of protein rose from 69 grams (1980-82) to 94.6 grams (1995-97), and over the same period caloric intake improved from 2,194.3 to 2,505.1. [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]
Types of Foods Eaten in the Maldives
Traditional Maldivian dishes not surprisingly are usually made with fish or seafood and often are served with rice and side dishes made with line, chili and small onions. Restaurants and resorts serve up tuna prepared in a number of ways — poached tuna and sushi are favorites — as well fresh reef fish, crab, shellfish, prawns, octopus and squid. Many tour operators have picnics or barbecues with reef fish caught minutes before you eat it.
Rice and fish are the staple foods. Fish is the most important source of protein in the average diet. Very few vegetables are eaten. Breadfruit, banana, mango, screw pine, cassava, sweet potato, millet and coconut are the most common fruits and plant foods.. Basic necessities and many types of fresh are available daily in the markets. The most common ones are tuna, bonito, and seer. If you look around you can find spiny lobster. Poultry, eggs and fresh meat are available, but dairy products are harder to find.
According to “Cities of the World”: “Fruits such as papayas, limes, bananas, and coconuts are always on the market; one variety of mango is available in season. Tropical yellow vegetables usually can be obtained; potatoes and onions are found intermittently. Fresh green vegetables are imported and available year round. Good-quality white loaf bread is baked daily. A variety of canned and bottled goods gradually is becoming more common in shops. Nespray powdered milk and tinned cheese, cream, and condensed milk are nearly always sold locally. Frozen meat is available, as is ice cream. [Source: “Cities of the World”, The Gale Group Inc., 2002]
The traditional Maldives staples are breadfruit, taro, coconuts, bananas, yams and rice. Taro, a starchy tuber that come from huge-leafed plant, is cultivated in freshwater swamps. The root is normally boiled and eaten with fish. Most foreigners find this kind of taro dry, tasteless and generally unappealing. Sometimes taro is cut in pieces and cooked in coconut milk for a sweeter taste. Breadfruit is sweet, comes from a tree and usually mashed and prepared like mashed potatoes.
Maldives Cuisine
As the Maldives comprises more sea than land, it is only natural that fish (mainly tuna) have always been the most prominent element of Maldivian food. However, with travelers from different parts of the world, new seasonings and vegetables were introduced in to the country and added to the existing but limited repertoire of seafood and tubers such as taro and sweet potato. Each new discovery was incorporated into the diet in quantities most palatable to Maldivians. Thus Maldivian cuisine now comprises Arabic, Indian, Sri Lanka and Oriental tastes blended into a unique cuisine that embodies a culinary identity of its own. [Source: Oceana Maldives Holidays visitmaldives.info ]
According to the “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”:Eating habits have been greatly influenced by India, though this has more to do with availability than religion. Fish, rice, and coconuts are the staple foods. Reflecting Islamic dietary restrictions, alcoholic beverages, pork, and pork products are outlawed in Maldives (though alcohol is available in tourist areas). [Source: “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Religious Practices”, Thomson Gale, 2006]
According to Lonely Planet: “Essentially all that grows in Maldives are coconuts, yams, mangoes, papayas and pineapples; the only other locally occurring products are fish and seafood, which explains the historical simplicity of Maldivian cuisine. However, as trade with the Indian subcontinent, Africa, Arabia and the Far East have always brought other, more exciting influences, the result is far less bland than it could be. The Indian influence is clear in local cuisine above all; Maldivian food is often hot and spicy. If you’re going to eat local food, prepare your palate for spicy fish curry, fish soup, fish patties and variations thereof.'Maldive fish', is a big export of Maldives, a tuna product that is cured on the islands and often sold abroad, where it is widely used as a supporting ingredient in Sri Lankan cooking. It is also used as the principal ingredient of several Maldivian dishes such as mas huni. [Source: Lonely Planet]
Maldive Fish
Maldive fish is popular in India and Sri Lanka. Traditionally produced in Maldives it is made from lightly boiled, smoked and dried tuna or bonito. It is a staple of the Maldivian and Sri Lankan cuisine, as well as the cuisine of the Southern Indian states and territories of Lakshadweep, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. In the past it was one of the main exports from Maldives to Sri Lanka, where it is known as umbalaka. [Source: Wikipedia]
Fish caught in the Indian Ocean around the the Maldives including yellowfin tuna, skipjack, little tunny (known locally as la i) and frigate mackerel. All these fishes have been traditionally processed into Maldive Fish although bonito (related to mackerel and tuna) is most commonly used. On a good night, fishermen using simple bamboo poles, can catch 600 to 1,000 fish in two to three hours.
To make Maldives fish, the fish are gutted, skinned and cut following a traditional pattern. The gills, some of the innards, the head and backbone and belly piece are removed. Then the fish is divided into four long pieces called ari. The pieces of fish are boiled, smoked and sun-drying until they acquire a wood-like appearance. In this state the fish can be kept indefinitely without refrigeration, which is one reason why it was such a desired product in the past, serving as an important provision on trading ships.
Traditionally Maldive fish was sold as long wood-like fillets. Ground, powdered fish has traditionally been used in Maldivian and Sri Lankan cuisine as a flavoring and spice in Maldivian dishes such as curries, mas huni, gulha and bōkiba and Sri Lankan dishes such as vegetable curry and coconut sambol. In some dishes just a smidgen of Maldive fish is added to give the dish an umami lift. Packaged Maldive fish is sold already pounded or crushed in small plastic packets.
Maldives Dishes
Maldivian Dishes include garudiya (fish soup), roshi (roti-like unleavened bread), mas huni (a mixture of fish, grated coconuts, onions, limes and chilies), bambukeylu hiti (fried breadfruit), breadfruit curry, and fried taro. Pork dishes are not available in the Maldives because it is an Islamic state. Maldivian tea shops serve a variety of savories and sweets such as fihunu (barbecued fish with chili paste), bajiya (pastry stuffed with fish, coconut and onions), keemia (deep-fried, battered fish rolls), kuli boakiba (mildly spiced fishcake), theluli kavaabu (deep-fried fish rissole), theluli mas (fried fish chunks with chili-garlic paste) and bondi (sweet coconut sticks).
According to Lonely Planet: “For snacks and light meals, Maldivians like hedhikaa, a selection of finger foods. In homes the hedhikaa are placed on the table and everyone helps themselves. In teashops this is called ‘short eats’ – a choice of things like fihunu mas , gulha (fried dough balls filled with fish and spices), keemia and kuli boakiba. Sweets include little bowls of bondi bai (rice pudding), tiny bananas and zileybee (coloured coils of sugared, fried batter). Generally, anything small and brown will be savoury and contain fish, and anything light or brightly coloured will be sweet.
“A main meal will include rice or roshi or both, plus soups, curries, vegetables, pickles and spicy sauces. In a teashop, a substantial meal with rice and roshi is called ‘long eats’. The most typical dish is garudia,” which “is poured over rice, mixed up by hand and eaten with the fingers. Another common meal is mas riha, a fish curry eaten with rice or roshi – the roshi is torn into strips, mixed on the plate with the curry and condiments, and eaten with the fingers.
“If you feel like trying something both exotic and dear to Maldivian people, go for miruhulee boava (octopus tentacles). This is not commonly found in resorts or in Male, but is often prepared in the atolls as a speciality. The tentacles are stripped and cleaned, then braised in a sauce of curry leaves, cloves, garlic, chilli, onion, pepper and coconut oil – delicious.
Eating Habits in the Maldives
A typical meal in The Maldives is a big heap of rice served with soup, curries or curry-like dishes, and is often accompanied by various pickles and other side dishes. Most Maldivians have breakfast early, between 6:30am or 8:00pm. Major hotels off Western offer Western-style breakfasts. Many have buffets with porridge, cornflakes, eggs, pancakes and tea or coffee.
Fishermen eat even earlier, often on their boats after they leave around 6:00am. A favorite Maldivian breakfast is mas huni, a mixture of tuna, onion, coconut and chilli, eaten cold with roshi and tea. Rose Prince wrote in The Telegraph on her trip on a tuna boat: “we had breakfast shortly after leaving; a dish made by the fishermen containing grated coconut, cooked skipjack, lime and chilli, served with roti (flatbreads) and hard-boiled eggs. It was one of the most delicious tuna dishes, and breakfasts, I have had.”
Local meals usually consist include rice or roshi (roti, flat bread) or both, plus soups, curries, vegetables, pickles and spicy sauces. In a teashop, a large meal with rice and roshi is called ‘long eats’. The most typical dish is garudia, a soup made from dried and smoked fish, often eaten with rice, lime and chilli. The soup is poured over rice, mixed up by hand and eaten with the fingers. [Source: Lonely Planet]
Lunch is served between 12:00noon and 2:00pm. It usually consists of Garudhiya (fish soup) served hot with rice, lime and plenty of chilies. The soup itself is loaded with fresh raw tuna and chopped chili. The Maldives have traditionally eaten dinner after evening prayers around sundown, which is typically around 6:00pm. The dishes are similar to those served at lunch. Water is usually served during the meal and tea is served afterwards. Maldivians are fond of taking tea breaks throughout the day.
Eating Customs in the Maldives
Eat with your right hand. Also try not accept or give the plates or anything for that matter with your left hand. The right hand is for eating, left for cleaning one’s butt. The tradition has its roots in Bedouin customs in an environment without much water. The Qur’an states the right hand is more honorable. Muhammad said: "the best of alms is that which the right hand giveth, and the left hand knoweth not of." Left handers have to learn to use their right hands. The left hand may be used to cut food, it should not be used to move food to the mouth.
Many people in the Maldives eat with their hands. Both at home and in restaurants they often begin by scooping rice on their plates. Then they put curry or food on top and mix everything with their fingers and make a rice-and-curry balls which they pop into their mouths. Roti (round flatbread) is used to scoop up rice, curry and other stew-like dishes. Maldivians insist that food tastes much better when eaten with the fingers. Finger bowls are often placed at the table for washing your fingers and hands. Most Maldivians wait until they are finished eating to wash off their hands. If there are no finger bowls you can excuse yourself and get up and wash your hands.
According to Lonely Planet: For snacks and light meals, Maldivians like hedhikaa, a selection of finger foods. In homes the hedhikaa are placed on the table and everyone helps themselves. In teashops this is called ‘short eats’ – a choice of things like fihunu mas (fish pieces with chilli coating), gulha (fried dough balls filled with fish and spices), keemia (fried fish rolls in batter) and kuli boakiba (spicy fish cakes). The Maldivian equivalent of the after-dinner mint is the areca or betel nut, chewed after a meal or snack. The little oval nuts are sliced into thin sections, some cloves and lime paste are added, the whole lot is wrapped in an areca leaf, and the wad is chewed whole. It’s definitely an acquired taste, and the kind of thing that few foreigners try more than once!
“When going to eat, wait to be shown where to sit and wait for the kateeb (island chief) or the male head of the household to sit down before you do. Take a little of everything offered and do so only with your right hand, as the left hand is considered unclean by Muslims. Do ask for cutlery if you find it hard to roll your food into little balls like the Maldivians do; this is quite normal for foreigners.”
Alcoholic Drinks in the Maldives
Alcohol is not permitted except in tourist resorts. The local brew, raa, is a sweet toddy made from the crown of the coconut palm. Though Maldivians generally do not drink alcoholic drinks and beer and alcohol are confiscated from travelers bringing it into the country, alcoholic drinks are available to foreigners at the resorts. But because these drinks are imported they can be very expensive.
The government has hired non-Maldivians to work as bartenders, Maldivians are not allowed to make money in a alcohol-related businesses. Despite all some Maldivians do drink, and among many drinking alcohol is less of a sin than eating pork. Maldivians like to party during festivals. There are occasional instances of drunkenness among Maldivians.
Annual alcohol consumption per capita: pure alcohol in liters: 1.2 (compared to 17.4 liters in Belarus; 9.2 liters in the United States; and 2.4 liters in Japan). percentage: beer: 29.1 percent ; wine: 29.4 percent; spirits: 41.2 percent. Of the 1.2 liters that is consumed, 0.7 liters is recorded and 0.5 liters is unrecorded. The Maldives ranks 164th out of 191 countries in alcohol consumption. [Source: World Health Organization data, Wikipedia Wikipedia ]
Alcoholism (deaths per 100,000 people): 0.22 (compared to 14.68 in Russia and 2.26 in the United States. The Maldives ranks 177 out of 183 countries in this category with 0.32 deaths per 100,000 people for males and 0.09 deaths per 100,000 people for females. [Source: World Health Organization, World Life Expectancy worldlifeexpectancy.com ]
Non-Alcoholic Drinks
Maldivian drinks popular with foreigners include “raa” (a sweet toddy with a pungent odour), “suji” (a sweet drink made with semolina, coconut milk, nuts, sultanas and spices). Ice cream drinks and fruit juices are also available. Coconuts are common on the islands but you need a machete or someone with a machete to hack them open.
Local people drink a lot of black tea. A cup of tea is often consumed with a meal. It is usually drunk black and sweet, sometimes with frothy powdered milk. Maldivians are also into coffee. You can get espresso, latte or cappuccino at many places in Male, as well as at all but the most budget resorts and guesthouses.
Coca-Cola, Pepsi and other internationally-known soft drinks are available but expensive. Three Choice — formerly known as Don Don — is a local soft drinks sold in various flavours including cola, apple, grape and cherry.
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, Republic of Maldives Department of Information, the government site (maldivesinfo.gov.mv), Ministry of Tourism Maldives (tourism.gov.mv), Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC, visitmaldives.com), The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Wikipedia and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated February 2022