Food


Samoan enjoy food and incorporate it into every celebration and function possible.  Samoan recipies include ingredients such as cooked breadfruit, taro, taro leaves, cooked green bananas and raw fish, and not many spices or seasonings.  Coconut is also a part of the daily Samoan diet, as well as: pork, chicken and beef.



Some traditional Samoan dishes are as follows (taken from: http://www.samoa.co.uk/food&drink.html)
Umu
An umu is the traditional method used by Samoan's for cooking food. A fire is built and stones placed on it. When the fire is down to the embers green bananas, breadfruit, taro, fish, and lu'au are placed on the stones. When everything to be cooked has been placed on the umu, it is covered with banana fronds and left to cook.
Oka
Most cultures eat raw fish: smoked salmon, sushi, Bismark herring, rollmops etc. Oka is the way Samoans prepare and serve raw fish. It consists of small bits of fish that have been left to marinate in a mixture of lemon juice, coconut cream, salt and onions.
Lu'au/Palusami
Lu'au is probably the dish that Samoa is most famous for and once eaten will never be forgotten. It is made from the leaves of the taro plant and coconut cream, however onions now tend to be added to it. The coconut cream, onions and some taro are wrapped up in whole taro leaves and, ideally, cooked in an umu. When cooked the parcel of taro leaves is opened and the contents eaten.
The taste is impossible to describe, but suffice it to say that this is truly a food fit for the Gods.
If you cannot obtain taro leaves it possible to produce a pale imitation using spinach. Take 2 pounds (1kg) of chopped spinach, two finely diced large onion and a pound of coconut cream. Boil the spinach for about 25 minutes, so that it is horribly overcooked, and fry the onions until they are soft and brown. Mix both of these together in a frying pan, add the coconut cream and salt to taste. Simmer this over a low heat for about 45 minutes.
Pe'epe'e
A general purpose sauce made from coconut cream and onions and eaten with taro, breadfruit or anything you like.
Sea
This is a Samoan delicacy that is made from the innards of a sea slug. It is normally sold in coke bottles at the food market. For the bold of heart and strong of constitution only.
Supoesi
Eaten for breakfast, this is a hot soup made from pawpaw and coconut cream. It's is worth trying once because you might like it, but there are many samoans around that wont touch it.
Supasui
A Samoan variation on chop suey, consisting of chunks of beef marinated in soy sauce, ginger, garlic and onions, which is then simmered with vermicelli, water and more soy sauce.
Povi Masima
Salt beef is the same the world over. However in Samoa it is one of the most common ways of eating beef, and most families will from time to time have large barrels of the stuff lying around.
Fausi
Fausi is a dessert traditionally made from taro, but outside of the islands it is more commonly made from pumpkins. It is essentially baked pumpkin, served with a caramelized coconut cream sauce: sweet and sticky.
If using taro, then finely grate it, but if using pumpkin cook it first until it is very soft, then drain it mash it and some plain flour to thicken it.




Just for fun, read what Samoan Americans are saying about the new flavor of Snapple, recently names:  Samoan Splash:

I was visiting my favorite faleoloa and I noticed a new Snapple drink called Samoan Splash. I knew I had to try it. First ingredient was fa'i, banana! Sounds good. Orange juice, strawberries and Cupuacu Puree from Brazil.

You know, it tasted good, but not like anything I had in Samoa. The taste is good, but more like a Banana-strawberry drink from Orange Julius at a Stateside Mall.

Has anyone ever seen the Cupuacu fruit in Samoa? Most Samoan plants are from Asia with the exception of the yam from South America. Could it be that the Cupuacu fruit is also in Samoa via Brazil? Thus lending credence to the Thor Heyerdahl theory about the Polynesian voyagers from the East? Probably not, but maybe Snapple knows something.

To quote the Snapple label, "Samoan Splash is made from strawberry and banana juices, and a special fruit called cupuacu (pronounced: koo-pwa-SUE). From Brazil, it looks like a coconut, yet...SURPRISE...look it's a melon! Yup, it's soft and juicy on the inside."

These, and other quotes may be found at: http://www.ipacific.com/samoa/splash.html