A quiet Christmas for Vusi
ON December 2, 1986, The Fiji Times published a story of how two natives of Vanuatu who recently moved to Suva were adjusting to the effect of outside influence on their traditional ways of cooking and eating.
Rice had become an important part of Vanuatuan fare, and these dishes were then mixed with curry powder.
Onions were also prepared in different ways such as baked, fried or boiled.
The ni-Vanuatua couple, according to the article, used to fill or stuff their food in bamboo and then roast it over hot charcoal back home.
If the bamboos burnt out, it would be replaced with another mature one until the food was cooked.
The Fiji Times spoke to Judith Vusi whose husband, Samuel Vusi, was a church minister studying for his Bachelor of Divinity degree at the Pacific Theological College in Suva.
“Now we have pots to boil, roast food over fire or fry on primus or gas stoves,” she said.
“People in the main towns of the major islands of Vanuatu are now enjoying much more modernised and civilised life from the ancient past.”
While there were many new changes in the towns of Vanuatu, there were still a number of villages that were living remotely and were still practising the traditional way of life such as wearing grass skirts, cooking using bamboos and raising pigs.
History books reveal that from the Solomon Islands, Fiji and New Caledonia, Captain Cook’s travel brought him to a large group of island reefs and live volcanoes which he subsequently named Hebrides which later became Vanuatu.
Vanuatu is made up of 80 islands with 10 of these larger than the rest.
“It is very much like Suva, all kinds of overseas food, household gadgets to sophisticated electrical goods are available.
“Most of our dishes are flavoured with curry powder and onions.”
She said it gave a kind of special flavour to their starchy foods and bele and bush ferns cooked in coconut milk.
There was a certain chicken dish made with rice, plantain and cassava, where the chicken is boiled first until it is cooked, coconut milk is then added with curry powder, onion chopped into fine pieces and salt.
Tinned fish, beef and mutton were cooked with bele, which, according to the article was a popular vegetable on Pentecost Island.
“We have a limited amount of vegetables, unless we grow cabbage and spinach ourselves, bele grows abundantly on our island, and we use it a lot in our diet.”
Judith and her family along with their three sons were looking forward to having a quiet Christmas whereas back in their home they would have to prepare a big feast.
“We do not celebrate Christmas ourselves in a little corner.
“We plan in advance with two or three villages and prepare a feast for dinner.”
Everybody cooks the same kind of food, so it is the matter of combining the food and eating together, she said.
“For Christmas, a bull or two and several pigs are slaughtered.
“They are cut up in pieces and put together with yam, taro, plantain wrapped in leaves for lovo cooking.”
Fresh fish flavoured with coconut cream, curry powder, onion and salt were carefully packed for the lovo.
A number of parcels are made with a combination of different foods, some were starchy foods while the rest were vegetables with a large amount of coconut cream.
“First we dig a big pit and light in it a huge fire to heat the stones until they are white-hot.
“Everybody’s cooking is arranged on the ground and all the people sit around to eat and enjoy the food and the company of the people.
“Christmas is a joyful occasion, the more the people, the merrier the occasion.”
We plan in advance with two or three villages and prepare a feast for dinner
– Judith Vusi