Maldives: Food and the National Dish

An island nation built on tuna

The Maldives, a chain of low-lying coral atolls in the Indian Ocean, has almost no farmland, so its food culture centres overwhelmingly on the ocean and, above all, tuna, which anchors both the national diet and a fishing industry that was historically the dominant economic activity and remains the second-largest sector after tourism.

The national dish: garudhiya

Garudhiya, a clear, simple broth made by boiling fresh tuna in salted water and skimming off the foam, is regarded as the Maldivian national dish; chillies, curry leaves or onion are sometimes added. Usually eaten with steamed rice, with lime, chilli and onion added to taste at the table, garudhiya is plain by design, letting the quality of the fresh tuna itself carry the dish rather than a complex sauce or spice blend.

Tuna, coconut and the everyday pantry

Tuna, fresh, dried or smoked, appears throughout Maldivian cooking, most visibly in mas huni, finely chopped tuna mixed with grated coconut, onion, chilli and lime, the country's classic breakfast dish, eaten with roshi flatbread and sweet tea. Coconut, rice and a range of curry spices reflecting trade contact with South Asia round out the everyday pantry, given how little else grows on the islands themselves.

History behind the plate

Maldivian food traditions developed around a fishing economy of long standing, with dried and cured tuna historically serving as both a preserved food staple and one of the main exports, above all to Sri Lanka. Trade contact with South Asia and the Arab world brought curry spices and other influences into Maldivian cooking, layered onto that older fishing foundation.

Dishes to know

Five more to recognise across the Maldives:

• Mas huni — tuna finely chopped with coconut, onion, chilli and lime,

traditionally made with cured tuna, a classic Maldivian breakfast.

• Rihaakuru — a thick, nearly black tuna paste left over from making

Maldives fish, eaten almost daily in Maldivian households.

• Masroshi — fried, stuffed dough filled with tuna, coconut, onion,

garlic and ginger, a traditional snack.

• Gulha — deep-fried balls filled with tuna, coconut and chilli, a

popular short eat (hedhika, savoury snacks served with tea).

• Kandu kukulhu — a Maldivian tuna curry of fillets rolled in

traditional spices and cooked in coconut milk.

Drinks

Fresh coconut water is a genuine everyday drink given how abundant coconut palms are across the islands. Sai (tea) is commonly drunk throughout the day, and raa, a sweet sap tapped from coconut palms that ferments into a mild toddy, is a traditional drink with deep roots in island life.

Eating as a traveller

Vegetarians will find options genuinely limited outside resorts, since fish is central to nearly all traditional Maldivian dishes, including garudhiya itself. Most visitors drink bottled or filtered desalinated water rather than tap water. Alcohol is banned for Maldivians and is sold to foreigners only at licensed establishments, in practice the resorts; it is not available on inhabited local islands, in keeping with the country's status as an Islamic republic.

What to take from the table

Garudhiya, simple and built entirely around fresh tuna, is the dish that most directly reflects what the Maldives actually has to work with — an island nation whose food, like its economy, runs on the ocean around it.