FIJI (Commonwealth Union)_ Fiji’s cuisine used to have a terrible reputation. If you were fortunate enough to be invited to lunch with the natives, you could eat (very) well, but tourists who relied on restaurants and resorts frequently experienced disappointment. Unless they had a fondness for boring Western buffet food and kitschy beverages from the 1980s.
Thankfully, a lot of resorts now serve creative interpretations on traditional Fijian dishes employing the country’s renowned fresh fish and tropical fruit. You can also find some wonderful authentic food in restaurants in Nadi and Suva.
Lovo
The lovo is an underground oven that creates smoky, slow-cooked meals, much like a Mori hng. When a fire is built, the wood and volcanic stones in the hand-dug pit heat up, allowing food wrapped in banana leaves or tin foil to be placed on top as they do so.
The dish is then cooked in the pit for one to five hours while it is covered with earth and coconut leaves. The ingredients change, but frequently include a whole pig, fish, fowl, starchy vegetables like taro (dalo) and yam, and the dish known as palusami, which is a vibrant green.
Palusami
If there’s one sure-fire method to get people to eat greens (hello kids), it’s to sauté them in copious amounts of coconut cream. Palusami is often served as a side dish to fish and is made by slowly boiling bundles of taro leaves filled with coconut cream. However, if you’re anything like me, you’d be content to eat a large bowl of it as a complete dinner.
Kokoda
Kokoda, a Fijian dish that combines fresh fish and coconut cream, is comparable to ceviche from South America. Fish chunks served raw and chilled are marinated in lime juice and red peppers for an entire night. The fish is frequently tuna or wahoo. Red peppers, spring onions, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers might all appear. On a normal hot Fijian afternoon, it makes for the perfect light lunch, and when served in a half coconut, it looks especially Instagrammable.
Hawaiian curry
Fijian curries are frequently cooked using fish or chicken, coconut milk, tomatoes, and, occasionally, plantain. They are typically milder than their Indian counterparts. Use rice, roti, or cassava chips to sop them up for a non-traditional but arguably better option. Although some people find cassava to be a little boring, it becomes extremely irresistible when it is cooked into hot chips. Cassava is a primary root vegetable in Fiji.
Vakalolo
Although it isn’t the healthiest of Fijian cuisines, this sticky sweet delight is one of the most delicious. It is made with cassava, coconut, sugar, and coconut cream and is cooked on banana leaves. It tastes very good when served with ice cream and banana slices.
