Preparation of native salts

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13.6 Other Food Sources

Other sources of food are: breadfruit oveu or eveu, cabbage kabis, pumpkin parike, cucumber kukava, manioc tapiako, several types of yams varuiva, atagava, riripui, veuveu, utu, taeri, vakore, wild taro vavarai utu, large mushroom keru-keru, and coconut opita. Some of the fruits found in the area include: papaya vavioko, pineapple uusi pineapples being introduced, the Rotokas took the name of another indigenous fruit that resembles pineapple in flavor and texture, Malay apple kakavoro, small red berry with watery consistency otava, mango tavute, bananas already listed, lemon, tangerine, and grapefruit muri. Foods that come from wild sources are young tree leaves which are cooked in bamboo tubes: piuta, kerara, pirisi, sikoi, gogo-vike sour taste and must be eaten with coconut milk and salt, uveuveto grows near the coast, vearua may be eaten by itself, or better with coconut grease; wild taro: uriiko the leaves get bitter with age; it is good cold medicine, kokuoku, petai; leaves from small bushes: gorivu, viveu, sisau, topisi, ivau; tender parts of vines: soko, asiga; cane: kukara, and something similar to cane pitpit which ripens at the same time: oupate; fungi found on dead trees, etc.: kopukosi black, raoto, korove both white, kurosi, kasikasi, karavao tai, akoto the latter is yellow and grows on wild banana trees; shoots of wild bananas: koakoa; and kareko iro a vine used for water. Also, at the higher elevations, there is a type of pandanus tree the growing heart is delicious and tender. Finally, as if this were not enough, the Rotokas have supplemented their diets with store-bought commodities such as: mackerel pike, corned beef, rice, sugar, salt, bread, biscuits, carbonated drinks, tea, coffee, Milo chocolate drink powder, fried crispies of corn or potato origin, etc.

13.7 Preservation and Preparation of Foods

Until recently, this section would have been quite simple. With the introduction of modern equipment, however, the story becomes more complicated. In the end, however, Rotokas people will prefer their traditional foods and methods of preparation. The Westerner’s foods aren’t “strong” and therefore don’t provide the quality of sustenance desired.

13.7.1 Preparation of native salts

The sisiva tree is a source of salt in the Rotokas area. It is a simple procedure to procure salt from this tree; heat is produced at the same time. The tree is cut and split for firewood, the pieces are burned and the solid crystalline-like residue vitavukoara collected either in palm sheath ladles or placed directly into green-cut bamboo sections. Water is added to the ashes and the salt allowed to settle out in a hard crusty mass. If green bamboo is used, the salty ashes are placed in the tube along with water. The salt flavor penetrates the walls of the tube and remains there until the section of bamboo is stuffed with opossum or pig meat. At this point, the ashes are flushed from the tubes which are stored in readiness for the meat. Once the meat has been placed in the prepared tubes, avieua, the salt transfers to the meat and the flavor of the salt tree is tasted in the meat. If the meat remains in the salted tubes too long, however, the flavor can become too strong and the meat is spoiled. It was suggested that after only a few days, the meat should be eaten. Another type of salt plant kaavaaua is not as popular as the first. This succulent plant grows profusely in damp areas, such as the base of waterfalls. The process for deriving the salt from the wood is identical. In addition to the instructions dealing with the ashes, the man telling us about this source mentioned that it was used to give a special quality to a young person’s body so that it would not appear to age. Another source of salt is any kind of tree which has soaked up salt water from the ocean. The Rotokas will find a beached log rakiraki and extract the salt from it in a process similar to that above. The ashes are placed in bamboo tubes in the same way as previously described. The main difference is that the salt flavor from the ocean is considered pleasant, whereas the salt from the sisiva tree, in particular, is “angry” or sharp. In fact, from personal experience, I would say the taste is sharp and not unlike a chemical flavor. Finally, the raatevoi is a bush which, when burned, produces ashes flavored much like the salt of the ocean. The bush grows at high elevations on the slopes of the volcano, Mt. Balbi. The flavor is said to penetrate into the bones of whatever is cooked with it. Neither taro nor sweet potato is cooked with these salts because “it is not right for them”. 174

13.7.2 Cooking methods