8 LOCAL MALDIVES FOODS _ BEST MALDIVES FOOD TOUR _ INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS MALDIVIAN FOOD

When we were planning to come to the Maldives, we had no idea what local Maldivian food was. When we started talking to the local staff, they were more than willing to share their food and culture with us, and they thought it would be a great idea to try out both Maldivian breakfast and dinner. So, let's get going and try it out. This is here. This is Hassan. He's from Maldives. How far is your island from here? By speed boat, it will take around six to seven hours. And Hassan is getting married. How long is your wedding ceremony going to be? We have Maldivian breakfast today, and we would like to hear what we're going to have this morning. Each and single thing Maldivians love is always spicy, since beginning until now, because we always grow our own chili at home. And after that, we have fish sambal. We have, on the side, chopped chili as well as limes. Like some people, when they have the curry, mostly they like to chop lime or lemon inside. Usually, we always eat on hand. Eat with your hand? Oh my god, you have to teach us. Okay, so yeah, help me out. So, I open this, and then what do I do? And then we add some curry, if you like to have vegetable or like mix. The fish curry I always love. Mostly, the breakfast I used to have after finishing from here. Is it mainly tuna? Yeah, mainly always tuna, yeah. I'm learning from you. Okay. And then are we going to add chili or anything? Yeah, if you like to have spicy, you can add some chili as well. I do. Oh. In Turkey, we eat fish with lemon, too. Oh, yeah. After that, usually use your hand to mix it up. I'm going to mix it with my hand? You can use one hand. And then you can mix with the curry and the chapati all together. I'm going to mix it more with my hand. I'm going to come to your wedding so bad. Is everyone going to eat it like that? Yes. How is it? This tastes so good. So, basically, what I'm going to do is, when we're eating, we're going to always have some, a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and mix everything together. And usually, like, every day morning, we used to have coconut juice, actually. Wow. And I just make a healthy juice with cucumber, apple, celery, and spinach. Do you drink coffee for breakfast? No. I added chilies, too. Wow. I kind of want to feed you. I made it so well, I don't want you to miss out. I enjoy being fed. Wow, that's really good. Is tuna, I believe, in the fish curry? Yes. I have a lot of tuna here in the Maldives, and I like the vegetable curry, too, but this is the stuff right here. So good. I'm very happy that, like, you're helping us, and you're telling us how your actual traditions. It's, like, very nice to be able to talk to you and hear from you. Something I love to do. Yeah. I have been in Thailand, Malaysia. Oh, wow. China. I used to go around. The first thing when I go somewhere, main thing is the culture. The food, street food is always one of my favorite. Yeah. Now you're invited to Turkey. Enjoy. Thank you, Hasan, for taking special time from your busy day to talk to us and tell us all about your culture and your food. This is definitely beyond our expectations. We are so grateful. As we were finishing up our delicious breakfast, one of the other staff members we become friends with mentioned he had some Maldivian snacks that he wanted to share with us a little bit later on. I can't believe it. From this huge bag for us to try Maldivian snacks, we need you to introduce us to what they are. This is a sweet. Is this sweet? This one. Ooh. This is Batu Ma. Batu Ma? It's cooked right under the sun with the coconut sweetener. Who made this? My mother made it. Oh, my gosh. Wait. Do you really want to give this to us? You haven't seen your mom for such a long time. Give us a little bit. This is too much. Do you have more? Yeah. When it's finished, I will just tell her to send. This is $12.50 for a piece from that island. It is like a rice krispie. Yeah, it really is. Okay. So this is Maldivian rice snack, right? It tastes much better than any of those branded rice krispies. It's so good. I can't believe it. I can't believe this is homemade. We are very thankful. Nothing we can't give you back can be even to this. And I have a spicy one as well. It's spicy. It's like shrimp? It's like chicken. You can try, yeah. And if you want some more, you can just come. Keep your moms cooking for yourself. She made it too? Yeah. Oh, my God. It's spicy and fishy at the same time. Dried fish is crushed and then put in. What's this one called again, Samir? This is kulikhaja or kulinoshi. This tastes so good. I love the spice. Doritos should hire Samir's mom to make better chips than Doritos makes. This is so amazing. Oh, my God. Thank you so much. Yes. Yeah. We're starting to realize all the Maldivian staff at the Conrad are just like Samir and Hassan. And we're willing to share with us their food, culture, and even what sports they like to play. Now that they realized we would miss out on their monthly Maldivian food night, they were excited to keep sharing and even set up a special dinner just for us. We're going to have some of the local Maldivian chefs cook us up something that's about 75% of the way that they would eat on their own local islands. They promised us the curry is not as potent to make sure we don't cry, or at least I don't cry later tonight. They really went above and beyond here. There are three huge curry dishes with rice. And we have the tuna and the salad separated this time. And now we're going to make everything combined together. And we're going to eat it that way. Hands again. We wouldn't be able to do this if it wasn't for the staff here who are mostly from Maldives. And they are very excited to share their culture and food, for which we are very grateful. We had the fish and vegetable versions before. And this is the first time we're trying the chicken version. And it tastes so good. I'm getting used to eating with my hands now. So we're in trouble. I think the only thing that we're missing is the chili and lemon. And I'm going to ask for that. I learned from the breakfast that chili and lemon makes a huge difference in the food. It's so good. You don't have anything on your plate. I know. He's waiting for me to make his food ready. Yeah, I know. I'm feeding myself first and then I'll feed him just like on the plane. Put your oxygen to yourself first before your kid. It's true. Honestly, this is so damn good. Everything just goes together so well. It really is like such an incredible meal. I'm so happy we're able to try this. Really, really so happy. Everything is together. Chicken, veggies, fish. It's so good. This opportunity to try Maldivian food and eat with our hands for the first time has been so unique. We're going to leave you off here, though. We hope you try Maldivian food at some point in the future yourself because it's really delicious. Stay tuned and we're going to continue eating and we'll see you on the next one. Bye. Hoping to see some sharks today. The ones that don't bite, humans. Bye, beautiful heaven. Take care.