Minahasan cuisine

It is popularly known as "Manadonese cuisine" after Manado, the capital of the province, although other cities in Northern Sulawesi, such as Bitung, Tomohon and Tondano, are also known as Minahasan culinary hotspots.

Manadonese cuisine is known for its rich variations in seafood, generous amount of spices, extra-hot condiments,[1] exotic meats, and European-influenced cakes and pastries.

Native Minahasan cooking tradition relies heavily on seafood as well as exotic bushmeats, and its heavy use of freshly chopped hot spices.

Various seafood such as cakalang (skipjack tuna), tude (mackerel), oci (larger mackerel), tuna, albacore, bobara (trevally), kakap (red snapper), kerapu (garoupa), tenggiri (wahoo), bawal (pomfret), shrimp, mussels and crabs are available in the marketplace, often being grilled on charcoal, and served in dabu-dabu, cooked in woku, in rica-rica, or in kuah asam soup.

The marketplaces of the mountainous town of Tomohon and Tondano are notorious for selling various kinds of exotic bushmeats; from wild boar, field rats, patola snake (python), frog legs, paniki or fruit bats, and dog meat.

Sometimes protected endangered animals such as yaki (Sulawesi black macaque), kuse (slow loris), tapir and anoa are illegally sold in marketplace as food.