Viva magazine, subset of NZ Herald, reviews and presents recipes from Eat Pacific: The Pacific Island Food Revolution cookbook edited by Robert Oliver:
‘Chefs serve up revelatory recipes in an inspiring cookbook.
A striking new release, Eat Pacific: The Pacific Island Food Revolution Cookbook presents a bold vision for food, collecting an array of different recipes while also sharing the diversity and common threads of dishes across the moana.
It’s a “homage to culture, regional tastes and culinary innovation,” writes Princess Salote Mafileʻo Pilolevu Tuita of Tonga in the foreword, and the book captures the past and present of food in the region — from shared ingredients that have helped define the concept of Pacific Island food, to diverse variations and traditions, contemporary iterations and wide-ranging influences alike.
There’s Rene Richardson’s magnificent Niuean-style ota (raw fish in coconut cream); Tino Suifaatau and Teuila Suifaatau have shared the recipe for a vibrant green banana curry; and for an aromatic julum achar (pickle) you can’t go past the iteration from Rachel Beryl Temo and Akuila Naiova — all of which you’ll find below.
Elsewhere in Eat Pacific, which spans Polynesian and Micronesian cuisine, there’s everything from Fijian vakasakera, to Ni-Vanuatu simboro and cream of laupele soup from Sāmoa, as well as a comprehensive glossary of ingredients.
It’s all thoughtfully edited by Robert Oliver, who grew up in Fiji, and the book is an offshoot of television series Pacific Island Food Revolution. The movement of the same name is, Oliver writes, a food justice movement — reviving, protecting and nurturing localised food networks and knowledge.
Whether you’re steeped in Pacific food knowledge already, or keen to expand your palate, these recipes are a good place to start.’
Read the rest of the review here.
