Maldivian Food: What Locals Eat, and Where a Visitor Can Try It

Updated October 2026

Maldivian food is built on three things: tuna, coconut and a starch such as rice, flatbread or breadfruit, with chilli, lime and onion to sharpen it. A visitor tastes it most honestly in the small local cafés of Malé and the inhabited islands, at breakfast and at afternoon tea, and some resorts cook it well too. For travellers from India, much of it will feel close to Kerala and Sri Lanka, with one big difference: fish turns up almost everywhere.

Tuna, coconut and starch: what Maldivian cooking rests on

The Maldives is a nation of small coral islands with little farmland, so its kitchen grew from what the sea and the coconut palm could give. Historically the essentials were fish, coconuts and breadfruit, and most dishes are still built on fish and coconut in one form or another.

Tuna is the centre of it. It is eaten fresh, boiled into broth, curried, and also cured: valhoamas, known abroad as Maldive fish, is tuna that has been boiled, smoked and sun-dried until it is hard enough to keep without a fridge. The same dried tuna is a staple of Sri Lankan cooking and of the kitchens of Lakshadweep, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which says a lot about how old the links across this ocean are.

Coconut comes grated, pressed into milk for curries and used as oil for frying. Rice comes with most meals, alongside roshi (a thin, round flatbread much like a chapati) and breadfruit, taro, cassava, yam and sweet potato. Chilli, curry leaves, turmeric and lime do the seasoning.

Breakfast: mas huni, roshi and sweet tea

Mas huni is the classic Maldivian breakfast. Tuna is shredded fine and mixed with grated coconut, onion, chilli and lime, then eaten with warm roshi. A cup of sweet black tea usually comes with it.

It is a mashed, dry dish rather than a curry, and it is the easiest introduction to the cuisine. Guest houses on the local islands often serve traditional Maldivian food at breakfast, and resorts make their own versions too.

There is a vegetarian version as well. Baraboa mashuni swaps the tuna for mashed pumpkin, and the Maldives' own tourism board recommends it to every visitor, not only vegetarians.

Garudhiya, rihaakuru and the everyday rice meal

Garudhiya is an everyday meal of the islands: a clear broth made by boiling fresh tuna in salted water. It is served with plain rice, with lime, chilli and raw onion added at the table. It is eaten through the week, sometimes with fried fish, boiled yam or sweet potato, or theluli faiy, fried moringa leaves, on the side.

Rihaakuru is what comes next. When tuna is cooked for garudhiya, the leftover broth is simmered for hours until almost all the water has gone, leaving a thick, dark brown paste. It is eaten with rice, roshi, taro or breadfruit. It is strong and an acquired taste, and worth one try.

Curries: mas riha, kandu kukulhu and the vegetable curry

Maldivian curries, called riha, are mostly coconut-based. Mas riha is a tuna curry cooked in coconut milk with Maldivian spices. Kandu kukulhu, whose name translates as "chicken of the sea", is a dish of tuna fillets, seasoned and rolled, then simmered slowly in coconut milk. Fihunu mas is not a curry at all but whole fish rubbed with chilli and spices, then grilled over coals or baked.

Tharukaaree riha is the vegetable curry, made with vegetables such as beans, carrots, cabbage, okra and pumpkin. It is eaten with rice or roshi and is the dish to ask for on a local island if fish is off the table.

Alongside come lonumirus, a chilli paste of roasted coconut, dried red chilli and shallots, and asaara, pickles made from carrot, unripe mango, dates or bilimbi.

Hedhikaa: the short eats of tea time

Hedhikaa is the umbrella word for Maldivian short eats, the small fried and baked snacks eaten with tea in the afternoon and early evening. Most of them are built on tuna and grated coconut, and they are sold by small cafés and tea shops.

The ones worth knowing:

• Gulha: small fried dough balls filled with spiced tuna, coconut and onion.
• Bajiya: a crisp fried triangle, smaller than a samosa and very like one, usually filled with tuna and coconut. Potato and vegetable versions exist.
• Masroshi: roshi dough wrapped around a spiced tuna and coconut filling.
• Kulhi boakibaa: a dense, savoury cake of ground rice, tuna and coconut.
• Bis keemiya: a pastry filled with cabbage and egg.
• Kavaabu: deep-fried fritters of rice, tuna, coconut and lentils.

Order a small selection and drink sweet black tea with them, the way most Maldivians take them.

Sweets, bondibai and festive food

Bondibai is the sweet most tied to celebration: rice cooked with coconut, sugar and cardamom until it turns sticky. It is made in festive seasons and for the birth of a child, and shared out among neighbours, friends and family. Saagu bondibai is a sago pudding served warm with coconut milk, and dhonkeyo kajuru are small fried banana cakes, often flavoured with rose water or vanilla.

Where to try Maldivian food in Malé and on local islands

The real thing lives in the hotaa, the small local tea shop and café found across Malé and the inhabited islands. A hotaa is informal and serves tea, hedhikaa and simple home-style meals.

Malé is the easiest place to start, and the Malé city guide covers the city on foot. Afternoon tea time is the moment to go, when the short eats come out with the tea. A walk through the local market and the fish market fits naturally into the same afternoon, since that is where the tuna on the plate comes from.

On the local islands, the guest house kitchen is usually the most reliable source, and many guest houses serve traditional Maldivian meals. An atoll is a ring of coral reef with islands scattered around it. Maafushi in South Malé Atoll, an island with many guest houses, has cafés serving Maldivian dishes, seafood and short eats alongside international food.

Maldivian food at resorts

Most resorts have an island to themselves, and the menus there lean international. Maldivian dishes still appear at resorts as well as on the local islands, and some resorts run a Maldivian evening. A few go further.

Sun Siyam Vilu Reef in Dhaalu Atoll runs a weekly Maldivian cooking class built around kandu kukulhu, led by the resort's own Maldivian chefs, as part of what it calls its Maldivian Roots experience. Guests slice the tuna, layer it with spices and roll it, then watch it simmer in coconut milk.

Sun Siyam Iru Fushi in Noonu Atoll includes Maldivian cuisine among its cooking classes, alongside Thai, sushi and pizza.

JA Manafaru in Haa Alifu Atoll has Kuri, a treehouse table built into a living tree at the island's edge and designed for one or two couples. Executive Chef Moosa Nazeeh serves a five-course Maldivian dinner there, cooked with ingredients grown on the island. This is Maldivian food reworked for a special night rather than home cooking.

The honest point is that a resort mas huni is rarely the same as the one in a guest house on a local island, and resort Maldivian nights tend to dress the food up for an international table. For the everyday version, a day trip or a night in Malé does more than any resort menu.

How Maldivian food compares with Indian and Sri Lankan food

Travellers from South India and Sri Lanka will recognise a great deal. The cooking draws heavily on Kerala and Sri Lanka: coconut milk, curry leaves, turmeric and chilli, rice and a chapati-like bread, and fish dried and used as seasoning. The bajiya is a cousin of the samosa, the riha a cousin of the coconut fish curry.

The differences matter more for planning. Maldivian curries can be very hot, with chilli as the main source of heat, though with dishes like garudhiya the chilli is added at the table, so each person sets the heat. Asking for a milder version is normal, and kitchens used to visitors will oblige.

Most of all, the cuisine is built on fish. A traveller from North India who eats chicken and paneer but not fish will find the traditional menu narrow. That traveller is better served in Malé, which has several Indian restaurants, and at resorts, where the kitchens cook for an international crowd.

Eating vegetarian in the Maldives

Traditional Maldivian cuisine is heavily fish-based, and it is better to know that before arriving than to be surprised by it. Tuna and dried tuna find their way into many dishes, including some that look vegetarian, so it is always worth asking whether a curry, a snack or a chilli paste contains fish.

There is still a real vegetarian thread in the cuisine. Baraboa mashuni at breakfast, tharukaaree riha at lunch, moringa rice, roshi with lonumirus, potato bajiya at tea time and the coconut and rice sweets are all fish-free when made that way. Guest houses on local islands will cook vegetarian food on request, and asking in advance gives the kitchen time to plan.

At resorts, many kitchens have dedicated vegetarian menus or label vegetarian dishes, and a few resorts give them a whole restaurant. Atmosphere Kanifushi Maldives in Lhaviyani Atoll has Just Veg, a purely vegetarian restaurant. Soneva Fushi in Baa Atoll has Shades of Green, a plant-based menu shaped by the island's own gardens.

For a strict vegetarian, Jain or vegan diet, tell the resort or guest house before arrival and ask what the kitchen will cook. Advance notice makes the difference between a menu of salads and a proper meal.

What to drink, and the rules on alcohol

The everyday drink is sai, strong black tea, usually sweetened and drunk through the day, above all with hedhikaa. Kurumba, the water of a young green coconut, is served chilled and is wonderfully refreshing in the heat. Raa, the sap tapped from the coconut palm, is a traditional drink taken fresh.

Alcohol is a different matter. The Maldives is a Muslim country, and alcohol and pork are available only on resort islands and other premises licensed for tourists, such as resorts and liveaboard boats. Alcohol is not allowed on the inhabited local islands, guest houses included, and it cannot be taken off a resort. It also cannot be brought into the country: alcohol is a prohibited import, and duty-free bottles bought on the way are confiscated at customs. Pork products are prohibited imports too.

On a local island, the drinks are tea, coffee, juice, coconut water and soft drinks. A drink with dinner means a resort.

Eating during Ramadan

Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, falls about ten to twelve days earlier each year. During it, most cafés and restaurants on the local islands close in daylight and reopen around sunset for iftar, the meal that breaks the fast. Eating, drinking or smoking in public view on a local island during the day is best avoided.

The evenings are the reward. Families and friends gather to break the fast together, and gulha and bajiya are iftar staples, which makes Ramadan a lively time to taste the food. Resorts keep their usual restaurant hours throughout.

Who will enjoy Maldivian food, and how to approach it

Anyone who likes fish, coconut and chilli will eat very well, and travellers from Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka will feel almost at home. A good plan is one afternoon in a Malé hotaa, one guest house breakfast of mas huni and roshi, and one resort meal that takes the cuisine seriously. Strict vegetarians who want to eat the local food, rather than international food in a Maldivian setting, should plan for a narrow choice and ask about fish in every dish. For everyone else, the cuisine is simple, honest and worth seeking out.

Common questions

What is the traditional food of the Maldives?

Traditional Maldivian food is built on tuna, coconut and a starch such as rice, roshi flatbread or breadfruit, seasoned with chilli, lime and onion. Typical dishes are mas huni at breakfast, garudhiya fish broth with rice, coconut tuna curries called riha, and hedhikaa, the fried and baked short eats eaten with sweet black tea.

Is Maldivian food spicy?

It can be. Maldivian curries can be very hot, and chilli is the main source of heat. With dishes like garudhiya the chilli is added at the table, so each person sets the heat. Asking for a milder version is normal, and kitchens at resorts and guest houses will adjust a dish on request.

Is vegetarian food available in the Maldives?

Yes, but the traditional cuisine is heavily fish-based. Vegetarian Maldivian dishes include pumpkin mashuni, vegetable curry, moringa rice and potato bajiya, and guest houses will cook vegetarian food on request. Malé has several Indian restaurants, and many resorts have vegetarian menus. Always ask whether a dish contains dried tuna.

What is mas huni?

Mas huni is the classic Maldivian breakfast: finely shredded tuna mixed with grated coconut, onion, chilli and lime, eaten with warm roshi flatbread and usually a cup of sweet black tea. Guest houses on local islands and many resorts serve it. Baraboa mashuni is the vegetarian version, made with mashed pumpkin in place of tuna.

Can you drink alcohol on local islands in the Maldives?

No. Alcohol is not allowed on any inhabited local island, including in guest houses, and it cannot be brought into the country, even from duty-free. It is available only on resorts and other premises licensed for tourists, such as liveaboard boats, and cannot be taken off them when visiting other islands.

Where can you try local food in the Maldives?

The best places are the small local cafés and tea shops called hotaa in Malé and on inhabited islands, especially at afternoon tea time, when the short eats come out. Guest houses on local islands serve traditional Maldivian meals. Some resorts run Maldivian cooking classes, evenings or tasting menus.