Tokoriki Island Resort Supports Local Farmers
Mamanuca award-winning Tokoriki Island Resort has developed a distinctive local cuisine from local products to boost tourism offering, and support Fijian communities. Fiji-born chef, Ashim Singh features quality fresh ingredients on the resort menu from farmers in Ba, Nadi and Sigatoka.
Fishermen harvest Nama, fresh walu, octopus, tuna and Trevally, from the Mamanucas and Yasawas Islands, for his kitchen.
Mr Singh takes traditional Fijian ingredients from popular local dishes, and tweaks the presentation, using modern cooking methods.
He creates a Western or Pan-Asian dish with local produce, to create an islandstyle look and taste.
Some examples include:fresh local fruit cheesecakes, soufflés, salsas, passionfruit ceviche, chutneys, braised beef, local root crops presented as cassava island fries served with tasty aioli and finishing salts from Fiji’s famous South Seas Salt.
The Ministry of Agriculture has supported Sigatoka farmer, Rakesh Kumar who is now able to supply Tokoriki with fruit, vegetables and mud crabs.
The Ministry of Agriculture vegetable seeds to Tokoriki to
Yanuya Village.
Tokoriki Island Resort promotes the Kana Vinaka, Contemporary Island Cuisine cook book which was co-funded by the Ministry of Agriculture.
International visitors can learn about local produce, where it’s grown, the seasons in which food is harvested and cook Fijian recipes on their return home.
Grow local
Samisoni Latui, from Veidrala in Ra, is Tokoriki’s head gardener. He creates compost from green waste, seaweed, leaves and grass clippings and works with Mr Singh to make organic fertiliser from banana and pineapple skins.
Mr Latui is growing bananas, pawpaw, pineapple, cassava, basil, pak choi, climbing spinach, avocado, lemons, guava and mint, around the resort.
Assisting local community
General manager, Rob Ring, worked with the Ministry of Forestry to ship lemon and teak (a tropical hardwood that can be used for island construction) seedlings to Tokoriki where it was distributed to Tokoriki team members to plant on their Mataqali land on Yanuya and Tavua. Seeds gathered from the kitchen are dried and distributed to landowners along with vara (young coconut seedlings) with management coaching on creating food forests. Tokoriki Island Resort Orchid Nursery is expanding the variety of fruit and vegetables grown on the island.
Tokoriki diving
supplied plant at
Tokoriki Island Resort’s award-winning PADI 5 Star dive centre is renowned for the Giant Clam Regeneration Project, which aims to repopulate waters of the Northern Mamanucas with the endangered Tridacna gigas (true giant clam).
Now in its 23rd year, the project is home to probably Fiji’s largest clams, and another four species of endangered clams. Tokoriki Diving has installed:moorings around the island to stop the damage from anchors, ceased hand-line fishing as a guest activity, and entered into an agreement with a local village to establish a protected area for turtles and other marine species.
Underwater it practices a strict no-touch, no-take policy, is active in reef monitoring and has recently restarted a coral planting project.