Vanuatu Market Produce

I was stressed as I walking through Bon Marche (the supermarket near our house). The prices were extortionate to say the least! A 2kg bottle of sun dried tomatoes was about $60. My only hope was that the famous Port Vila markets I had stalked as well as I could on Google before I moved here last Sunday were as good and as cheap as they looked.

We landed on Sunday, the only day the 24-hours markets are closed. Monday was a public holiday. Finally Tuesday came and so did the amazing markets that sent my head into a whirl! Imagine walking into an organic market, with fresh fruits and vegetables and walking out with as much produce as you can carry for less than the cost of a foot-long sub. Imagine no longer – this market is this place!

I didn’t take my camera to the markets, but here’s some of the product that I brought home.

In my bag: 1 bunch of mint, 1 bunch of basil, bag of passionfruit (granadilla), bunch of peanuts, spring onion, galanga, bag of limes, 1 coconut for juice, 1 decent size bag of green beans and 1 pomelo.

Pomelo and passionfruit.

I didn’t really know what kind of coconut I was buying – as in, there are different uses depending on how old they are. This one that I bought for 60c was full of coconut water! I attempted to make some coconut milk by blending the water and flesh, but it didn’t really go milky. Next time I’ll get some older coconut that have the harder thicker flesh and blend it with the coconut water. One of my aims out here is to also concoct an awesome coconut ice cream recipe – so watch this space.

Watering some mint and basil in the hope that some roots will shoot and thus be the beginning of my herb garden.

I have no need to buy any bananas. We have about 6 huge bunches of bananas like these in our backyard.

It’s a strange event when you look out the window and see a cruise boat sailing past. I wonder if it will always be so novel. (I hear prices go up when a cruise boat is in town, so perhaps the novelty will wear off).

p.s. Mark and I moved to Vanuatu last Sunday. We’re here for at least 4 years as he works as country director for ADRA – which is a humanitarian organisation. Out here they specialise in water retention, sanitation and are exploring the implementation of permaculture. I’m looking forward to sharing some of ADRA’s fine work out here.