Glorious food

A lot of friends have been asking me how Melanesian food is like. Well, in general, almost every dish is coconut-cream based, especially in the lowlands, while in the highlands, the sauce derived from Marita or red pandanus is used in the absence of coconut. A meal is not complete without a mixture of sweet potato, taro and plantain cooked in coconut cream, and some steamed or creamed greens like aibika leaves (a relative of okra), chayote tops and watercress. Chicken is usually roasted on top of red-hot stones while canned fish is a convenient food especially in the highlands where fish is expensive.

In the absence of rice and other staples, some use sago starch as another source of carbohydrates. The starch which is extracted from the pseudostem of the sago palm is usually mixed with water and cooked into a consistency of glue! The gooey paste (oh well, its more like mucus, sorry!) when eaten, slips right straight into the throat enough to cause one to gag! So forget cracking jokes when you’re eating sago! One dish I particularly like is the “kumu” (shown in the photo) which is just chicken, sweet potato, carrots and watercress cooked in coconut cream with just a hint of salt and ginger. In fact I tried making my own “kumu” yesterday from the vegetables I bought during my highlands trip. It turned out ok I guess. Creamed aibika is also a personal favourite. However, the leaves are so fibrous it will take a significant amount of chewing before it eventually leaves the mouth! Aibika is related to Kenaf, a fibre plant used to make ropes and fiberglass!!! Eating aibika then is like chewing on fibreglass. Like sago, it's another dish with the danger sign on it.

During special occasions, they make “mumu” or food cooked in earth ovens. A hole is usually dug on the ground and lined with edible leaves where individually wrapped meat, fish, sweet potato, taro etc are thrown in. The hole is covered with another layer of leaves and finally with red-hot stones and left to cook for an hour or two. The final product is oil-free, healthy, and well, bland?

Melanesian cuisine is therefore very basic; no special condiments or spices are used except salt which by the way, they use liberally. However, some have acquired the taste for curry which they use to make lamb stew. Lamb flaps from New Zealand are dumped into PNG and provide a cheap source of protein for many. But not for me, though. Eating lamb is like licking a live sheep, and smelling like one in the process.