Fiji Travel

The traditional foods of a nation will always have a lot to do with the flora and fauna indigenous to the area. This is quite obvious in the case of traditional Fiji food. Most of the ingredients used in traditional Fijian cuisine are locally grown and still eaten widely today. But you can also learn a lot about a nation’s history from its traditional foods, and Fiji is no exception. This tiny island nation is home to a diverse culture and, as a result, a diverse menu. By taking a brief look at Fiji’s food, you can discover a lot about its people.

Traditional Fiji food includes root crops, such as dalo, cassava, and taro. These roots are harvested from the ground and then usually boiled or baked until the starches break down. Traditional Fijian food also includes locally grown vegetables and fruits, such as breadfruit, coconut, pineapples, bananas, and papayas. Since Fiji is an island nation, it’s no surprise that seafood plays a prominent role in many Fijian dishes. Wild boar and various local birds are other staple proteins in the Fijian diet. From these basic ingredients, the Fijian people devised ingenious ways to prepare different foods with subtle flavors.

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A popular way to prepare Fiji food is in a lovo. A lovo is an earth oven. A pit is dug for the lovo and lined with heat-resistant rocks. Once the lovo is ready, a fire is lit in the pit. Once the stones are hot, different items are wrapped in banana or taro leaves and hollowed-out coconut husks and then lowered into the lovo and covered with dirt. After a while, the leafy packets would be dug up and its contents served. The heat from the rocks would cook any meats and soften out any starchy roots. In the town of Savusavu, they have a unique cooking apparatus not available anywhere else in Fiji. Women of Fiji often cook their root crops in pots hung into a naturally occurring hot spring near the town.

Other cultures are also a part of the Fiji food story. When the British colonized Fiji in 1874, they brought Indian laborers with them. Even after the British left, the Indians, now known as Indo-Fijians stayed, and the Indian cuisine they brought with them is now an integral part of the Fiji food scene. Fiji has a food history as diverse and interesting as its political history.