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Showing posts from March, 2019

Manihiki Magic - Slow Food

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Picnic on Motu Atimoono - Fresh fish Tunupaka Tunupaka, BBQ, microwave. All are ways of cooking that developed in different eras. Yet, all of them are still used daily, it just depends where one is from.  Yann feeding the fire with Puru Peace in Tukao Bay While joining a Cultural Tour around Rarotonga as an interpreter for French passengers of the cruise ship Costa Luminosa, I learnt quite a lot of new information about the Cook Islands. One of the facts, told in this cheeky island way by our knowledgeable local guide James, was about the traditional way of cooking. "In the Cook Islands, we used to cook in an underground oven called Umu. Volcanic rocks heated in a fire are put in the ground with meat, fish, local spinach dishes wrapped in banana leaves. The lot is covered and left to cook for several hours. We also like to cook on an open fire building flames with coconut husks and drift wood. In Australia, they call that... a BBQ ! In the States, it