Entering a Muslim country, I prepared myself before heading over to the Maldives. I ensured that I did not eat pork for a week so that I can control my cravings during my stay in the well-known islands of Maldives.
The cuisine found in the island is a mix of Arabic, Indian, Sri Lankan, and Oriental dishes – making the Maldivian Cuisine very diverse, providing its locals and visitors with a variety of dishes to try. Given that it is 99% sea, seafood plays a crucial role in many of their dishes. Not to mention that the dream destination is surrounded by seawaters, coconuts are considered important as well in the culinary world of the island of Maldives. Last but not least, majority of their dishes are also made out of starches. Thus, Maldivian Cuisine utilizes three important items: seafood, coconut and starch.
Coconut
Traditional chefs within the islands makes use of various forms of coconut included: grated form, squeezed form (this will allow the chef to make use of the coconut juice in their food or as a drink), lastly, they may also make use of coconut oil when the dish is made by deep-frying it.
Seafood
Surrounded by sea waters, seafood is one of the most important items in Maldivian Cuisine. Some of the fishes may be used dried of fresh. The most famous fishes that can be found in majority of the food offered in the island would be the yellowfin tuna, the mahi-mahi, the mackerel scad and many more. It must be noted that the Maldivians do not have a tradition of eating raw fishes.
Starch
Starch plays a vital role in the culinary industry of Maldives because it consists of rice, which is eaten either boiled or grounded into flour, or tubers such as taro, sweet potato or cassava.
Beverage
Within the Islamic island, alcoholic drinks are not really found everywhere. In fact, it is a non-alcoholic country; thus, people would prefer water, coffee and/or juice. Their local coffee is definitely a must-try! However, certain resorts do offer alcoholic beverages. If you are lucky, you will notice that some local islands have yacht bars open to the public – within these bars, you will be able to find beers and opt to stay until midnight for a party.
