Local Foods

April 19, 2009

A yellow fin tuna caught yesterday by one of the local fishing boats, some local spinach, and some imported margarine and garlic, and I sit here feeling blissfully content. Estoy satisfecho!

The meal is satisfying for two reasons. Prepared and eaten after a strenuous afternoon hike, the meal satisfies a basic hunger. And, if I say so myself, was quite tasty.

Secondly, the local source of the food satisfies my environmental conscious. Having settled into the job, the house, the ex-pat community, it is now time to turn my focus towards my diet.

In Oregon, Wenonoa and I had adhered to the ‘eat local’ philosophy as much as we could which, in Oregon, was not that hard to do.

Food on Pohnpei can be broken into two categories: local and imported from America and Japan. The majority of food falls into the import category. Rice, chicken, ramen noodles, and sugary snacks seem to be make up the four basic food groups for most Micronesians I see. Spam and eggs, which I thought only existed in the minds of the Monty Python troupe, is an item I routinely see on the breakfast menu. Not surprisingly, and not unlike America, diabetes seems to be of epidemic proportion on the island. High blood pressure and heart disease, I’m sure, are also prevalent.

There is also an economic and environmental irony to the importation of many foods. Bizarre as it is, the grocery aisle is stocked with imported items like canned tuna and canned coconut milk. Even imported bottled water – and remember Pohnpei gets between 200 inches and 400 inches of rain a year – is sold throughout the island.

A Go Local campaign is underway to teach people of the nutritional value of many indigenous foods and I do see diabetes awareness posters at several locations. I have started my own campaign to find and learn how to prepare more of the local foods.

I was excited to stumble across the fact that there is a local egg producer on the island. While buying eggs (which cost about $4 a dozen) at the grocery store, I noticed that someone had taken a magic marker and wrote “local” on many of the California egg cartons. On my next shopping trip, the store was out of local eggs but the produce/fish market across the street had. When I asked, I found out they sell the local eggs. So now I know where to go to get local eggs.

On a quiet Easter morning, the produce cashier looked bored so I took advantage of the situation and learned a few things about their selection. The bark I have seen sold there can be put in boiling water to make tea. I’m sipping some now and the taste seems to fall somewhere between cinnamon and chai.

Coconuts are another local product. I found that they aren’t as tough as they look and my all purpose kitchen knife easily cuts into it. A chilled coconut can, with just a knife and straw, be turned into a cool, refreshing beverage.

Bananas come in several varieties. I’ve had several delicious coconut/banana dishes and I’m ready to start experimenting on my own.