Fine festival food Samoan style

Monday, 28 July 2008

The sound of coconuts being scraped always makes me excited. It means food is being prepared. I love food and I love coconuts.

So when I went down one early morning to the rows of fales along Utelei Beach where many of the Festival of Pacific Arts activities are taking place and saw the boys going hard on the coconut scrapers, I knew what I’d be doing for lunch. It would be a Samoan umu.

The culinary arts are a big part of the festival program. Food is a central part of life in many cultures around the world and with the festival being held in this part of the Pacific, the Samoans and American Samoans went all out to prepare their traditional food for visitors to taste.

Hundreds of coconuts were husked, cracked open, scraped and squeezed. Baskets of yams, taros and breadfruit were lined up ready for their turn to be peeled.

The coconut is indeed a versatile plant. The leaves make the baskets to hold the food. The trunk and branches provide fibres to squeeze the shredded flesh of its fruit. The husk becomes kindling and the shell the fuel to start the fire.

The fire was lit early to heat a pile of volcanic rocks. These would form the oven, once heated by the burning piles of wood place on top of them. Smoke filled the air as I sat on the mats with the women who sang, clapped and told jokes. The preparation of the umu is the role of the men.

Then the meat arrived, varieties of fish, suckling pigs, crabs and octopus. It was all hands on deck, each pair knowing exactly what to do, when to pitch in here and there. The energy was magnetic and I couldn’t leave.

Palusami is the signature dish of the umu. Hundreds of taro leaves were torn into the right shape and size to be filled with a coconut cream, chilli and onion combination, then folded into hand sized parcels ready to be baked. My mouth watered.

Another favourite is the octopus – first charred on the top of the now scorching hot stones then chopped. The ink is squeezed into coconut cream turning it brown. It’s all combined together with onion and set aside ready to go into the umu – the oven.

About three hours after the fire was lit the pile of rocks are the right temperature. Another frenzy ensues as the top layer hot rocks are removed and the food goes in – the vegetables first, then the fish bound in coconut leaves, the pigs go straight on the stones, then the palusami on top. Hot rocks are placed back on top and then banana leaves to cover.

We wait.

When the smell starts to fill the air we know it’s getting close. 6 hours after the first coconut was scraped, the leaves are peeled back, rocks are removed and the meat dissolves of the bones of the pigs.

We feast.

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