Not so very long ago, every household in the capital Male’ City boasted a spread of home-cooked dishes for three meals a day. Since then, the capital has become busier, families have grown smaller, and time… there doesn’t seem to be enough of it anymore.
Eating out was a luxury, generally reserved for special occasions. Today, eating out has become the norm, with many struggling to find the time and energy to prepare home-cooked meals on a daily basis.
This, however, sees a shift in Ramadan, with its festive Ramadan spirit driving families to cook at home, while the shortened work hours and closed schools contribute to making the decision possible.
A few decades ago, the economically sound decision was to cook at home. Households often tended to buy staples in bulk, further bringing down costs. Large, extended families lived together, so every meal cooked had to cater to about a dozen people or so. The number of women who stayed home were also higher at the time, often having them take the lead in preparing daily meals for the whole family.
Options to eat out were also limited, with maybe twenty to thirty restaurants and tearooms across the capital. Restaurants were often expensive, while tearooms or ‘hotaa’ - while a much more economic option - were considered an exclusively male domain.
“At our home, there were about 15 people who were living there permanently. My parents, some of their siblings, grandparents, my siblings, their spouses and children. Often, there were friends from other islands who would stay with us for weeks. My mother and aunts generally did all the cooking. It wasn’t really a fancy affair, mostly curries and rice or roshi. But it was hearty and comforting,” Shiuna, a 39 year old mother of two reminisced.
“As we grew up, we faced space constraints at home and, while the older generation passed away, the younger nuclear families began moving out and making their own homes elsewhere. I, myself, live with my husband and two kids in a rented apartment now,” she explained.
“After growing up largely on home-cooked meals, I feel guilty sometimes for not doing the same for my children. Of course, I cook when I can. But, too often, I just go with ready-made meals or deliveries. Juggling work and chores, there just isn’t enough time,” Shiuna said.
Like Shiuna, many working parents now opt for take outs and deliveries over time-consuming cooking.
The ever-growing capital city now has hundreds of food outlets to choose from: everything from high-end restaurants to cozy cafe’s and simple tearooms. Added to this list are the dozens of takeaway services and homecooks offering deliveries from their own kitchens.
Also making the case for eating out are dedicated delivery services, where they offer doorstep deliveries from a long list of outlets which won’t run out even as your finger tires of scrolling the list on your phone.
With most adults, both with families and single, choosing to live separate from extended families, the daily schedules of individuals have seen a major shift over the past few decades.
Most are employed at demanding jobs, and at the end of a long day, it becomes too easy to sort out meals with a few clicks on the phone rather than drag ourselves into the kitchen to play chef.
This is not to say that there aren’t many health-conscious young adults who tend to meal prep and be less impromptu about their meals, but not everyone has the inclination to be so responsible.
“I have lost count of how many times I decided to turn over a new leaf and start meal-prepping for the week ahead. But I’m just so exhausted sometimes that I find it easier to just order in. I mean, these days there are healthy options even when eating out, it doesn’t have to send you into a carb coma every time,” Lamha, in her mid-twenties, defended her choices.
Her friend, Jailam weighed in.
“It just makes sense to eat out. What’s the point of buying overpriced groceries and going to the trouble of cooking up fancy meals just for one or two people? Eat out, support local businesses, satisfy your palate with the myriad of options on offer,” he shrugged.
Ramadan, however, is a completely different story.
Anyone who ventured out the night before the start of Ramadan would have been met with crowded streets and completely packed supermarkets. Groceries were stocked up. Gas was ordered. Sleeves rolled up. Ready to master the kitchen.
Besides the holy aspect of Ramadan, it is culturally a time for families to get together. It is a time when everyone experiments in the kitchen with new recipes. Lighter workloads mean everyone has the time to try out the new dessert recipe they have had saved off Pinterest for months, or the mouthwatering lamb kofta meatballs as seen in The Edition Ramadan Flavors!
“There’s no time like Ramadan for a foodie like me! My mom makes the best dishes! We have cousins over for Iftar, or we can visit their homes and try out snacks there. It’s the best time,” a gleeful teenaged Kiyaan gushed.
But as Ramadan ends, regular life seeps in, and the comfort of home-cooked meals once again becomes a luxury for many.
MMA statistics, meanwhile, show that in the first half of 2025, food prices in restaurants went up by nearly 29 percent. Food inflation, in general, was at 5 percent by June, 2025, and decreased to 2.6 percent by October.
With these trends, and taking into account busy schedules and the effort it takes to cook, it’s hard to judge which is the smarter option: eating out or eating home-cooked meals. Suffice to say that those in the capital now have before them the option to choose which suits them best.
