Me’a Kai: The Food and Flavours of the South Pacific

Authors: Robert Oliver with Tracy Berno and Shiri Ram
Godwit - RRP: $75.00

This gorgeous book was published in April 2010 but somehow it flew under my radar. With the recent announcement however that it is one of the four finalists in the ‘2010 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards’, to be announced in Paris on March 13 made me serach it out and what a special book it proves to be.

The cuisines of the South Pacific island nations are noted for their sensational use of coconut cream, fresh fruit and the most delicate fish. Away from the big resort hotels, skilled local cooks make the most delicious meals, whose range would surprise most tourists.

Three years ago, New Zealand-born chef Robert Oliver, who has had a stellar career in the United States restaurant industry, went back to Fiji, where he grew up, to rediscover the art of Pacific cooking.

He travelled to Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa, Vanuatu and the Cook Islands to track down the most skilled local cooks. Adapting their recipes for modern kitchens, this outstanding, landmark book brings together a treasury of South Pacific cooking, arranged country by country, with 90-plus recipes and stunning photos ( I exagerate not) that capture the essence of the Pacific.

And there’s much more than just recipes. As well as showcasing traditional and modern South Pacific cuisine, Me’a Kai, meaning “come eat” in Tongan, covers fascinating encounters with local cooks and food producers. Flipping through its pages is like going on holiday! And it will inspire readers to seek out local food on their next Pacific holiday.

But there’s much more to Me’a Kai than this. It is a book with a clear mission: to support sustainable tourism in the South Pacific. Robert Oliver has worked as a chef for more than 25 years, running highly successful restaurants in Miami, New York, Las Vegas and the Caribbean. It was while working with resorts on the Caribbean islands of Barbados and St Lucia that Robert first started to try to improve the links between local growers and large resorts. He found that most of the food used by resorts in the Caribbean was being imported, as the local farms were not set up for commercial supply, although there were clearly many able farmers on the islands.

Robert started working with the farmers to develop supply contracts that worked for both the hotels and the farmers. The food tasted better, the nutritional value of fresh local food was better for the guests, there were greater environmental benefits in buying locally rather than importing and the livelihoods of the local farmers improved.

He recognised the same issues existed in the South Pacific and returned to Fiji to begin the same process in the islands where he had grown up. There he encountered Tracy Berno, a determined academic from the University of the South Pacific who had been working for some time to connect farmers to hotels. Both Robert and Tracy through his culinary journeys, Robert knew that the local ingredients are fantastic – widely available, inexpensive, delicious and a veritable nutritional powerhouse. All too often however, this food is not offered in the resorts – juice coming instead, for example, from a Tetra Pak imported from New Zealand when fresh fruit was falling off the nearby trees; tinned fruit at the breakfast buffets and food items such as tinned fish curry on offer when the lagoons nearby were full of fish. Why are these countries leaking their much-needed tourism dollars out of the region to buy items that could be produced locally?

Robert and Tracy decided to put together a gorgeous recipe book that would say to Pacific chefs: “This is who you are! Your food is as great as any.” They approached Fiji’s best photographer, Shiri, whose response was “If it’s good for the Pacific, count me in!” And so began the journey that has led to the creation of the stunning Me’a Kai.

Their goal is to improve the quality of food offered to the South Pacific region’s tourism market and to contribute towards rural prosperity in the Pacific by creating an increased demand for locally grown foods.

Underpinned by a philosophy of sustainable tourism, sustainable agriculture and sustainable cuisine, Me’a Kai is much more than just a cookbook, it is a fundamental part of this process.

Me’a Kai is a must-have for those with an interest in food or a love of the Pacific. Do be sure to check it out at your library or favourite bookshop.