Foods of Micronesia

 The unit on food started with a visit to the Island Food Community of Pohnpei where I covered the CHEEF benefits of local foods: Culture, Health, Environment, Economic, and Food Security. Then the state director of agriculture honored the class with an impromptu introduction to the work and services of the division of agriculture. The work they are doing under his leadership is phenomenal. 

Higan landed during this time frame. This term no machete work is being done, and the Haruki cemetery has not been cleaned since September 2019. Higan spring 2020 occurred just after school shut down on March 16 due to the pandemic coronavirus. Haruki is an overgrown jungle at this point, and the Hoshino Noritake memorial stone was deeply buried in the grass. There was an marginally humorous scene with Smeagol clawing through meter tall paddle grass under a blazing tropical sun going, "Where is the stone?" and the class watching their senile old professor sure that he was completely unhinged because all one could see was a sea of paddle grass. When I found the stone I think the students were more surprised than I was. I was having doubts I could find it. 

No photos were taken of either of these two days events. I did show the following videos, downloaded previously to my phone. The first is from April 10, 2014. 

The second is from September 2017.

The following Tuesday the students brought local food dishes and explained on to make them.

Sisero and Audrey brought Pohnpeian idihd en uht, also known as uht idihd, ground banana with a touch of coconut.

Sisero and Audrey presenting

Adrian brought Mwoakillese daiduhj, banana fritters, often consumed with dried salted tuna seen on the left.

Adrian

Pwoil en uht, in this cased boiled ripe banana, a personal favorite of mine. Of note is that this is a modern local dish. The word pwoil, "boil", gives this away. These bananas were boiled in plain water, a variation on this dish is to add sugar to the water and cook until the water is gone and the sugar just starts to carmelize on the bananas. 

Lashana and Ashanty presenting their uht pwoil

Another variation of uht pwoil, this one with bananas that are green at the start of the process

Burnell explaining how the dish is made

Saya explaining how she made miso soup for the first time

Miso soup includes a soy bean base paste, that is the miso, and includes onions, nori spinach, and tofu. 

Natalie and Shawn arranged to have epwet, Chuukese fermented breadfruit brought in from Chuuk. The epwet is wrapped in a breadfruit leaf.

And inner wrap of banana leaf. The breadfruit is fermented but the cooking preparation involves cooking in water. In the past the epwet was placed in a hot stone ground oven, covered with leaves, and water was added through a hole to steam cook the apwet. Today a large pot is used to accomplish the same. The result is moist fermented breadfruit. Very flavorful.

Shawn and Natalie presenting Chuukese epwet