Fijian - iTaukei -cuisine offered us a peek into Fijian traditional culture, which we had an opportunity to experience at a contemporary iTaukei restaurant.
What made our experience even more delightful were the diverse array of natural ingredients. iTaukei food includes many local plants, some native including young fern fronds, canoe plants such as coconut, taro (both leaves and root) and cassava, and food from the moana; fish, prawns (ura) and seaweed. We examined each element in these colourful dishes, admired and discussed them at length. The salad (pictured at the top of the second plate) made up of nama, ota and coconut jelly cubes, made with lumi, left one of the biggest impressions on us – so unique, colourful and tasty.
Our mystery seaweed, nama, resembled citrus pulps in texture, except each sack was filled with slightly salty water instead of citrus juice.
Ota, young fern fronds, were blanched and brightly green and nutty.
The jelly is concocted by gelatinising coconut with a seaweed called lumi, which has a natural gelling agent to thicken the liquid into jelly. There are a few species of seaweeds commonly consumed to varying degrees as thickening agents in Fiji (SPC Aquacultural portal, accessed on 21 August 2023), and many other species are commonly consumed. Given the geographical position of the Fiji Islands in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, it is hardly surprising that marine life is important in their everyday diet.
This brief interaction with Fijian Cuisine opened the door to the future discovery of the other islands in Fiji and the wider Pacific.