Naturally, we had to ask about their favorite food from their culture! Here’s what they had to say:
“Oh my god, I’m really missing Tongan food right now. My family are constantly like, ‘Oh, we’re at this function,’ and sending me photos. Ota ika [raw fish in coconut cream] is amazing. I love it. I’m in Mexico City right now, so I’m just eating ceviche, like, ‘It’s almost the same.’ I love tapioca. I love lu sipi [lamb, onion, and coconut cream wrapped in taro leaves]. It’s funny, I was vegan for two years [laughs] my family would make me a vegan version. But now I’m back to eating meat, I’m fully back into that. My auntie makes this amazing Fijian curry. It’s bomb. It’s my favorite.”
“Green pāua [abalone] and kina [sea urchin]. Equal. I didn’t like kina that much when I was growing up, and then in the last 20 years, it’s become an obsession.”
“Fa’i [green bananas]. I would say I’m a fa’i lover. Now, do I need all of the fixings with it? No, I like my fa’i plain, and I know that’s so controversial; I don’t care. Also palusami [coconut cream wrapped in taro leaves]. My two faves.”
“My go-to traditional Hawaiian plate would be lau lau, kalua pig, some rice, lomi salmon, and I’m good. Ooh and some poi.”
5.
Oscar Kightley (Samoan)
“Well, this isn’t actually Samoan [laughs] but growing up — do you get corned beef in the States? Pisupo? It’s like a currency. My favorite growing up was pisupo and rice, pretty much anything with rice. I love it all. We have our own soul food. I love that concept of soul food because food is actually so important to us as well. But if I had to pick one, it would be oka, raw fish and coconut cream.”
“Well [laughs] when I go home, my whanau or my family say that I’m hopeless because I don’t eat meat. So, a boil up, which is probably incredibly good for you because it is all the bones and the meat and the watercress, but it’s not a food I eat. I do like fry bread, though. With lots of butter, fantastic.”
7.
Alex Tarrant (Māori, Samoan, and Niuean)
“Oh, man. For food, I love palusami. And if it’s dessert — I don’t even know if I can call it dessert — but panipopo [coconut buns].”
“It’s hard to choose one thing. I was in Utah not too long ago, and I went to Pacific Seas, off of Redwood. That’s the first thing I wanted when I landed, Tongan food. So I get there, and the first thing I say I want on my plate is lu sipi. It’s like the Samoan palusami. Tongans, we like adding more, we’re a little extra. Taro leaves, you have meat in there, you can have corned beef in there, or sipi, lamb, coconut milk and onions and all that.”
9.
And finally, Uli Latukefu (Tongan)
“Lu sipi, manioke, octopus/feke, I like all of it. If I could have it every Sunday, I would.”
You can read the full Voices of the Pacific interviews here.