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Jengki market in Manado, North Sulawesi (Indonesia) is a traditional fish and vegetable market located next to the port in this city of about half a million people.  It is not the cleanest of sites, with piles of rubbish and rotting vegetable remains, but the people were very friendly, and the produce itself looked very clean and wholesome, coming from both the local seas and the fertile volcanic soils of Minahassa peninsula.  Like many Asian markets, there is a great variety of fresh vegetables that would not look out-of-place in the most upmarket supermarket in the West.  Indeed, it could be argued that the fruit and vegetables available to locals in these markets, is better – and certainly much cheaper – than anything available in most Western countries; take a look at this mouth-watering display (below).  To be able to go and buy such fresh vegetables on a daily basis would be something I would love to be able to do!  We can see it this photograph: carrots, cabbage pak choi, cucumbers, leeks, potatoes, lettuce, red peppers, onions, green beans, cauliflowers and more.

The traditional market (pasar) is an important place for locals to purchase food on a daily basis and has been integral to the formation and development of the city over nearly four centuries.  The produce is usually sold at a highly competitive price, offering the best value for money, presumably better than the supermarkets, which have increased in number in recent years.  The good news being that the traditional markets have continued to prosper despite the growth of the supermarket.  One reason being, perhaps, that they offer the consumer a variety of fresh produce in the sort of quantities they require on a daily basis, in a simple and straightforward way, such as on small plates (see below) devoid of unnecessary packaging, which can be emptied straight into the shoppers bag or basket.  Indeed, all of the ingredients for a good meal are present together on the same stall.

The market is also a good place to stock up on other things, such as tinned food and other essentials, as shown in this small stall, where once again the owners were happy to have their photograph taken, once I had asked their permission.  I also like to show people the photograph(s) that I have taken of them; one of the advantages of digital cameras, which would have been impossible in the old days (apart from using a Polaroid camera of course!).

One of the things which most impressed me about this market, was the variety of produce available for the consumer. In one area of the market, there were a number of stalls selling eggs, chicken eggs that is. There were a bewildering variety of differently sized eggs at different prices.   I have never seen more than three categories in my local shop here in England, Large, medium and small-sized eggs.  This was more like a retail market, but they were selling direct to the consumer.

Although I am not a fish eater, I always enjoy looking around a fish market to see the variety and abundance of local fish species.  There seemed to be a reasonable number of small tuna (skipjack) available although I know that numbers have decreased in recent years.

Traditionally,  coastal fishing for skipjack has been carried out by small pole-and-line vessels in North Sulawesi but they have had to compete with large-scale industrial offshore fishing which has reduced fish stocks considerably.   The cured and smoked  skipjack tun (cakalang in Minahasan) is used for a traditional dish, where the flesh of the fish is split into two and presented on a bamboo frame.  There were also much smaller fish (mackerel?) which were being sold.  This gentleman (below) was a bit of a character, and seemed to enjoy posing a number of times next to his fish!

There were also a variety of other fish being sold.  Let’s just hope that they were all caught using sustainable fishing methods, although illegal methods (such as blast fishing and using cyanide) have been widespread techniques – albeit highly damaging to reefs – in Indonesia for many years.  I was sitting next to someone on the aeroplane to Manado, who told me that he had once seen someone who had blown his own arm off using a homemade fishing ‘bomb’ (often a mixture of kerosene and fertilizer).   Blast fishing is easier and sometimes more productive than with other traditional methods, but is highly destructive and so short-term.

What I took away most from my short visit to this market, was the friendliness of the people.  They were a little reserved at first, but once they understood that I was being respectful and was genuinely interested in what they were doing and selling, they were warm and generous, allowing me to take photographs of them, even though they must get pestered by quite a few tourists over the course of a year.  I also took away a vision of people of different religions seemingly getting on very well with each other; something that many other places in the world could learn from.