A Blog by MBP Volunteer, Rachel
Every Sunday is Market Day in our local town, Kianjavato. There is normally a procession of people heading to Market from the surrounding villages and along the way is the smell and sights of cinnamon and rice laid out to dry at the roadside. We head down early in the morning and the street is already bustling with people and lined with stalls towered with fruit and vegetables as well as clothes and a variety of odds, ends and hidden treasures.
The day is an opportunity to try some of the street food displayed in abundance, the majority of which is some kind of tasty deep fried bread savoury or sweet. At the small bar in town you can even pick up a bottle of cold Guinness (brewed in Madagascar!) and sit surrounded by 90s posters of UK and US pop stars but listen to Malagasy music playing loudly.
There is a huge variety of neatly arranged fruit and veg on offer. We usually pick up a supply of vegetables to make salads for everybody back at camp and lucky for us the huge avocados are at their best just now. There are plenty of guavas and rambutans at the minute but each week also seems to bring a new, bizarre and mysterious fruit to try. In season just now is pocanelle also known as the ‘custard apple’ which gives some idea of its taste and texture and breadfruit, which is not very fruity at all but is always cooked and is more like a sweet potato.
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