If and when you go to Zanzibar, you will see that seafood is a pretty big deal here. The fishing done here contributes to 4% of the whole Tanzanian GDP and the market for fish is especially enhanced with tourism and tourists expecting seafood.
Stone Town has a night food market from 7 pm till midnight that sells mainly seafood which is cooked right in front of you. Everyone selling at the market are fishermen and I have to say - it looks a little gross because they lay out all of their raw seafood on a table. The fishermen stand there all night swatting away the FLIES.
In order to eat a such a market, I came up with a list of tricks as that will ensure that you choose the freshest, most LEGIT seafood rather than find yourself with an upset stomach...
1. Alec told me that one should not buy food early on in the evening, as it is probably left over from the night before.
2. Maya suggested that one should always make sure to watch them COOK the food. It should be warm when you receive it.
3. My advice - create a bond with your fisherman. Become friends, and that way when you ask him if the food is french, he hopefully will not lie to you. You may say that is a very silly piece of advice - but I made MY FISHERMAN promise me that his fish was fresh and I ate and did not get sick :)
The fishermen that I got talking to were really friendly (...ok we were a little tipsy too....). We met three fishermen but "Mr. Cha-Cha" is the only "name" I actually remember. They were all pretty young guys. We spoke to them about their fishing and their methods and the tourists that they have to deal with. Out of nowhere, Mr. Cha-Cha demonstrated to us that he could speak a little French, and VERY GOOD ITALIAN!... he told us that he works for the government by day but loves selling fish at night so that he can support himself, his wife and his two kids.
Stone Town has a night food market from 7 pm till midnight that sells mainly seafood which is cooked right in front of you. Everyone selling at the market are fishermen and I have to say - it looks a little gross because they lay out all of their raw seafood on a table. The fishermen stand there all night swatting away the FLIES.
In order to eat a such a market, I came up with a list of tricks as that will ensure that you choose the freshest, most LEGIT seafood rather than find yourself with an upset stomach...
1. Alec told me that one should not buy food early on in the evening, as it is probably left over from the night before.
2. Maya suggested that one should always make sure to watch them COOK the food. It should be warm when you receive it.
3. My advice - create a bond with your fisherman. Become friends, and that way when you ask him if the food is french, he hopefully will not lie to you. You may say that is a very silly piece of advice - but I made MY FISHERMAN promise me that his fish was fresh and I ate and did not get sick :)
The fishermen that I got talking to were really friendly (...ok we were a little tipsy too....). We met three fishermen but "Mr. Cha-Cha" is the only "name" I actually remember. They were all pretty young guys. We spoke to them about their fishing and their methods and the tourists that they have to deal with. Out of nowhere, Mr. Cha-Cha demonstrated to us that he could speak a little French, and VERY GOOD ITALIAN!... he told us that he works for the government by day but loves selling fish at night so that he can support himself, his wife and his two kids.
 |
| Laurie - Anne getting the inside scoop on our seafood |
 |
| My fishermen!! |
Anyways… after making Mr. ChaiCha promise me that his seafood was fresh, I chose some big prawns to be grilled. Although NONE of my friends wanted to share with me (because they were scardey cats), I found the street food QUITE ENJOYABLE and I was totally fine the next morning.
All our diners in Zanzibar were lovely, especially our final dinner at "Livingstones" which was right on the beach. Livingstones also had a great DJ who played two whole songs that I had never heard before but were apparently "mainstream". My music + everything that is happening with the Arab Spring (more importantly) leave me with LOTS to catch up on when I return home.
But I guess in the mean time, I will spend my evenings smoking shisha on the beach and enjoying the scent and breeze of the ocean for my last few days on this program (which is slowly morphing into a holiday).
No comments :
Post a Comment