"On a coral atoll, little grows; on a coral atoll with little rainfall even less grows."
So begins the opening paragraph of an unassuming booklet celebrating the abilities of the women of Kiribati and Tuvalu to make innovative use of every aspect of their harsh atoll environment, particularly of the limited species of plants that too have had to adapt to coral and sand for soil and limited freshwater supply. ‘Atoll Anthology II: the uses of trees and plants by women of the Gilbert Islands and Tuvalu’ is a cyclostyled pamphlet published by The Tungavalu Society in 1976. This title appears to be rare, the copy held at Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum is the only one listed on the New Zealand national combined libraries catalogue.
Atoll Anthology II is a collation of recipes and source information corresponding to knowledge and skill sets which fall under the realm of expertise of Tuvaluan and I-Kiribati women: cookery, dye production and medicines.
Mrs Tekarei Russell, Chairperson of the Tungavalu Society, is named as the individual who gathered together recipes in the cookery section that names several Tuvaluan food plants as key ingredients: the pulaka, (Cyrtosperma chamissonis - giant swamp taro), talo (Colocasia esculenta - taro), and mei (Articarpus altilis - breadfruit).
One such recipe for pulaka is as follows:
Image: Atoll Anthology II : the uses of trees and plants by women of the Gilbert Islands and Tuvalu; AWMM S400.K5 ATO