Fiji - Our Seventh Meal

For our seventh meal, Mark made us a Fijian feast! This was only my second time having ceviche, and I was a little nervous, because the last time, I did not enjoy it. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the kokoda flavor -- a mild fish and chili taste, strongly flavored with lime. Yummy. (I regret I didn't get a better photo, but it's the dish in the coconut bowls.)

In the end, I did not prefer the palusami (corned beef and coconut milk, not my preferred taste combo) or vakalolo (texture not my favorite), but the lolo buns were great! They had a very biscuit-like texture, I could easily imagine them with American Southern food, or breakfast.

"Lolo" (or coconut milk) was an ingredient in every dish. (It also happens to be Mark's pet name for me, so that was cute.)

vakalolo - Mark got real banana leaves from H Mart

I really liked the beverages (sweet black tea with lemon, apparently the most popular beverage in Fiji), and the Dark & Stormy cocktails, made with Fijian rum - although those are pretty familiar/tame flavors for me. :)

We also tried drinking kava (not pictured), a mild euphoric substance whose effects are similar to alcohol, traditionally drunk in Fiji (and legal in the US). This preparation of kava (powdered kava mixed with water) yielded a greyish liquid with a bitter taste. (Not surprising, as "kava" means bitter.) We did not notice any effects beyond the feeling of having a couple of alcoholic drinks, so I would agree it is a mild substance. It was fun to try a new experience.

After dinner, we watched Pear ta ma ʻon maf / The Land Has Eyes (2004). Apparently lots of movies (like Castaway) are filmed in Fiji -- no surprise, it's gorgeous! -- but this is the only Fijian feature film (shot in Fiji with a Fijian director and actors) ever created, to date. It was an interesting slice of life movie about a young woman from the tiny Fijian island of Rotuma, 300 miles north of Fiji, who is trying to win a scholarship to allow her to go to Fiji to study, and break her family's cycle of poverty. It is set in the modern day, but informed by the traditional tale of the warrior woman. I would recommend!

When? August 8, 2020

Who cooked? Mark

What's for dinner? (Recipe links) kokoda, palusami, lolo buns, vakalolo, dark & stormy

Fiji is actually so small that it didn't appear on this map - I've added in a series of red flecks in roughly the correct position.

Better map where you can actually see Fiji, and Rotuma (inset, top left)

Fiji Stats

• Population: 889,327 (the United States has 371 times more people! San Francisco by itself has 883,305)
• GDP: 12,840 (151st in the world)
• Life Expectancy: 67.3 -- very low, 139th in the world
• Founding Date/Age in 2020: 1970, when Fiji won its independence from England / 50 years old -- younger than my parents
• Official Language: Fijian (the people in the movie we watched spoke Rotuman)
• Best performance at Rugby World Cup Sevens (men), 2 times winner (1997, 2005) (tied with New Zealand) -- interesting for me, as I played rugby in high school