Island Food Community of Pohnpei

I once again used the porch of the combined agriculture and island food community offices to deliver a talk on the CHEEF benefits of local food. 

Danisha, Gorinna, Mishanie

I prefer to give this talk from that location as we are surrounded by local plants, agricultural equipment, and evidence of agricultural projects over the years. This also puts the talk solidly on the soil of Pohnpei and the property of Pohnpei state government. From that base I expanded on the cultural benefits of food. I asked a few of the students "Who cooks food in your home?" and all answered "Mom." That provides the opening for reminding them that only men set up and work with the uhm on Pohnpei and Kosrae. Only men go beyond the reef to fish. And men were the ones who worked the land planting yams or swamp taro. Bringing home the food and cooking were, in traditional times, what the man brought to the family. Women not only did not cook, they were not even permitted in the "kitchen" where food was cooked: at the uhm. And still are not. 

In this day and age the sharply defined gender roles of traditional indigenous societies is perhaps considered politically incorrect. A United States Center for Disease Control report released the same day as the class suggests the possibility that the American social and cultural model is deeply broken for young women. The report provides evidence that United States teen girls are engulfed in a growing wave of sadness and violence. The United States is not a functional role model to be emulated by other societies on the planet. These islands recognize gender based roles in traditional cultural activities. 

Men in these cultures "brought home the bacon" in the form of food. They built the shelters. Traditionally women had roles centered on ensuring that there would be a next generation to care for the land and the people. Women's roles in traditional societies here tended to center around child bearing and rearing. Today women continue to be the lead in child care, they are often working, and they are now also in charge of producing food for the family. As I told the female students, "You work, you raise the kids, and you cook. The man shows up only to say, 'Where's my dinner?' and may get angry if his dinner isn't ready. You don't need men anymore, you are better off without them in this new social and work structure."  

This brings me back to the traditional role of men in food production and cooking - the balance that each partner brought to the family. As is said here, "Food is life" and thus the men brought life while the women brought forth life. This should not be mistaken as a call to return to traditional roles but a call to return balance to the relationship, a call to men to get into the kitchen and cook, a call for a new balance to be found. To not come home and be upset if food is not ready, or laundry is not done. To instead pitch in and help. And a reminder that food roles have changed in a way that has not benefitted the work balance in the family. 

I went on to cover each of the five CHEEF benefits of local food, but the above is an area that the founder did not include in the cultural benefit of local food.