They Call Me Imatang





My Road

After work I walk along the road in front of my house in search of fresh produce and the children call out to me. They call me Imatang, which means white foreigner or so I am told. They expect to see me now on this daily scavenger hunt. Some reach out to touch me or try and practice their English but mostly they yell Imatang and laugh. I go daily as what you can find varies so much and you just never know what is going to wind up on the roadside stands. 

The Taiwan government have a garden program here and are teaching people how to grow things. A family that lives near me is raising cherry tomatoes, cabbage leaves, chili peppers, and egg- sized eggplants. They only have a few plants so if you buy a small bag of cherry tomatoes one day, it may take another week or so before they have any more.  

My favorite things to buy are bananas (bananas are not grown on this island though) coconuts, papayas, and pandanus fruits.

Pandanus, papaya, coconut, chillies

Although coconut and papaya trees are everywhere and line the street I walk on, you cannot count on these grocery items being available for purchase. Maybe it is because you have to actually climb trees to get the fruits. I don’t know but if you see something you like, you need to buy it on the spot.  I made the mistake once of walking by the stands thinking I would check out what was ahead and then come back to get what I wanted. Sadly, when I did come back there was nothing left.  Today though I hit the jackpot and purchased a bag of tiny lemons.  I was day dreaming about lemons a few days ago thinking that I would just have to wait until I went home to get one again and then there they were.  I must be lucky because this weekend I found an onion, which I was told by 7 year veteran of Kiribati that finding an onion was an absolute impossibility. 

I now have fresh cherry tomatoes, lemons, chili peppers, and an onion in my possession. Can anyone recommend a good recipe?



Favorite Shop--where I found the lemons