A Local's view of Tahiti (picture heavy)

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justpassingthru

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
OTBS Member
Feb 7, 2009
950
23
Pamatai, Tahiti
Hey all, last Sunday we had a family reunion on the island Moorea, the sister island of Tahiti.  Thought you might like to see the Tahiti that the tourists don’t see, Mrs JPT cousins cooked the food in an underground fire pit called a hima’a (hē-ma-ā), we had some time in the morning before the ferry left so we took some shots of the Farmer’s Market, you will see that some of the pics are a little low, that is because the sellers don’t like locals taking their pics, also please excuse the quality of the photos, our camera is an very inexpensive model.

The Farmer’s Market is the building behind the red shirt, we will go around the other side and enter in.

Stands outside of the Market.

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One watermelon $10, 2 cantaloupe for $15.

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Locally produced eggs, they are never refrigerated.

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The red fruits are rambutans, the wood is excellent for smoking.

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Tied up in bundles are taro, bean sprouts in the garbage can.

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The brown fruit come from a tree and are called “mape” (mā-pay), they are cooked in a pressure cooker.

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"Umara" yellow yams, limes and tomatoes.

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More umara, yams, white and purple, the white ones turn purple when they are cooked, that's my bride on the left, she's very camera shy. 

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Now we’ll go inside.

Char siu, this is why it impossible for me to buy butt in the stores, all of it goes for Sunday char siu, there are probably 20 stands in the Market.

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Tropical flower bouquets.

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Flower of the ginger plant.

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Fruit trees and plants.

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Birds of paradise.

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Our local butcher shops, very hygienic, you notice none are refrigerated.  

This man is very proud of his meat.

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On the top shelf is lagoon fish run through a grinder, we stuff bell peppers with it.

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Sugar cane mashed for the juice.

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Mrs JPT’s aunt’s stand.

The biscuits are called “ipo” (ē-pō), flour, coconut milk and sugar cooked in a steamer.

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Cooked bananas, the yellow is manioc, purple in the front row is the “taro,” the purple in the second row are the purple yams, and in the same tray is “uru” (ou-rū) breadfruit.

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In the white bottle is coconut milk and sea water fermented, “mitihui” (mĭ-tē-who-ē), “poi” (pō-ē) in the plastic containers, pumpkin, papaya, taro, banana, the fruit is mashed and mixed with tapioca flour and sugar and then cooked in an oven or hima’a, coco bread on top.   

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The Fish Market

Tuna, about $10 per kilo-2.2 pounds.

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Lagoon fish, he's 'negotiating'.

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Assorted Shell fish.

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More lagoon fish

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Tuna, he's not happy I took his picture.

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The famous Breadfruit.

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A couple of “regimes” of bananas.

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We have gone through the Farmers Market and come out where we started, it was time for us to leave so we went back to the ferry, I’ll post the reunion on Moorea in another thread.

Gene
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the tour Gene and also  for putting yourself at risk in confrontations path from the vendors to give us some behind the scenes of tahiti...... it was great. I am always interested so see the way people really live. Not what I see on tv....

Joe
 
Wow Gene that is very cool. Thanks for taking the time to share the great pics with me. Start putting your list together so we can get another box out to you.  
 
Great job, Gene.  Thanks for posting.  You quoted some outrageous prices, but that tuna I could handle.

Good luck and good smoking.
 
One more thing, do you see the difference in the color of the tuna in the case and the guy that wasn't happy I took his photo, his tuna is fresh, it sells for 1500 francs a kilo.

Gene
 
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