It's refreshing and healthy

The fish auction market near the dock is, as usual, very crowded. When you enter the gate of the market, your senses immediately come to more than alive. You see hundreds of people and piles of fishes, you hear shouting of numbers and roar of the waves, you breath smell of the sweat and strong fishy smell. Cars, motorcycles, bikes, and other transportation are parked and waited for the sea creatures to be auctioned at the best price, and distribute them to traditional markets, shops, restaurants, delis. It happens seven days a week, 365 times a year, and we, people of Sulawesi in Indonesia call it: life. Why is it life? Well, can you imagine the fish auction market’s closed for just one single day? No, we couldn’t.
I stand near the dock and see the line of boats with different sizes, these boats have sailed all night to capture the sea creatures for the continuation of our life. But, seeing those boats, I couldn’t help but murmuring a very old lyrics: “Nenek moyangku seorang pelaut, gemar mengarung luas samudera” My fathers are sailors, they fond of voyaging the sea.
The line above is taken from one of Indonesian children’s folk song. The song itself wasn’t came out of nowhere, it indicates a long history of Indonesian, more specifically: people of Sulawesi. The history taught us that our grandparents are sailors. This implies our tongue get used to eat fish, heredity by heredity. Thus, people of Sulawesi tend to prefer marine resources to any other food resources. The resources that’s been a remarkable distinction Sulawesi has among all province in Indonesia. Overabundant in number and diverse in kind.
The sea have done favor for our entire life, we take from the sea the generosity that nature’s willing to provide us. It’s become our culture to life alongside the sea. And I believe it ‘s all started with the maintained habit of my great great great grandparents, who are sailors, travelers.