The Role of Local Food in Maldives Tourism - Scholarly Commons ...

Table 5. 4 Local foods used in marketing materials
Food type
Locally
grown/harvested
102
Local use
Number of
Occurrences
Fish Yes Yes 6
Prawns Yes No 2
Lobster Yes No 2
Roti bread No Yes 1
Rice No Yes 4
Short eats*
Curry
Dessert
Local and imported
ingredients
Local and imported
ingredients
Local and imported
ingredients
Yes 5
Yes 1
Yes 1
Papaya Yes Yes 7
Coconut Yes Yes 15
Banana Yes Yes 9
Water apple Yes Yes 1
Sweet melon Yes Yes 2
Water melon Yes Yes 2
Screw pine Yes Yes 1
*finger foods
Although prawns and lobsters are locally harvested products, they are not commonly
used by locals. Most of the locally harvested seafood products, including reef fish are
sold to tourism establishments. Although screw pine is a traditional local food that is
used to make numerous dishes, the picture of a bunch of screw pine in Maldives
Visitor’s Guide 2007 neither illustrated it as a local food nor was there any information
on screw pine (Figure 5.11). Therefore, it was not identifiable from the guide book
whether screw pine is a local food.