Food in Paradise
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We're home! I can't believe it. It took us twenty-eight hours of flying and airports to get from this south Pacific dream called Bora Bora to our snowed-under home in rural New England. As I've said countless times, Dante was wrong, had it backwards: when you visit Paradise, you have to go through hell to get back!
We had such wonderful experiences on this, our trip of a lifetime. Since fourth grade, I've wanted to go to Easter Island. As I wrote to someone, "it took me forty years to figure out how to get there--but I made it." And then to add other stops in the south Pacific? Forget about it!
Anyway, I thought I'd take a moment to tell you about what we discovered.
Needless to say, much of of the food was amazing--and mostly the fruit. Traveling in Polynesia and the south Pacific has unfit me for tropical fruits from the supermarket. The ones we found were so ripe, so fragrant, right off the tree. Hundreds of varieties of bananas sold from small tables along the road. Golden, luscious, soft papayas for less than a quarter each! Our pineapples from Bora Bora tasted almost buttery, the most delicate perfume I've ever experienced, nothing sharp or astringent, just juicy bliss. And passion fruits? I've never seen so many varieties.
Along the way, I had some myths disabused. Not necessarily about food, but about Easter Island.
I had always thought that the tenth-century monoliths were just heads. "Oh, those Easter Island heads," as people say.
Little did I know! They are in fact full bodies. The ones in this shot are actually still in the island's quarry, carved and ready to be carted to their platforms. It's as if production just one day stopped--and these statues have been buried up to their necks in a millennia of silt as the volcanic rock erodes around them.
When in place, the statues are full bodies. And do not face the ocean. They face the land.
They were put on platforms at the beach, facing the village at their feet. It's as if your ancestors were watching over you, perhaps keeping the sea back from your home (or you on land). As you can see, they are indeed full bodies, not heads. Full bodies with little top knot hats. One of these guys far down the line still has his in place!
Oh, we made one other little voyage. Little? Ha! We actually went to Pitcairn Island, the spot where Mr. Christian and his mutineers finally landed the Bounty, burned it in the bay, and settled down with the Polynesian wives they'd picked up on Tahiti.
Even today, the island's forty-five residents are direct descendents of those original mutineers! Crazy. Bruce bought honey--alleged to be the "purest in the world." I don't know about that, but I suppose that on a place with no industry, nothing but a few farms, a place so remote that it was mistakenly situated on maps two hundred miles from its actual location until the twentieth century, the honey should be pretty free of contaminants. And I do know this: it tastes "tropical"--mango and pineapple hints abound.
And then Tahiti. The market in Papeete was brilliant! Such fresh tuna! And fruit! I'm still dreaming about it. Bruce bought tons of vanilla beans. Sure, they were more expensive than at the road-side stands, but they were still a fraction of the cost of vanilla beans back here in the United States. A bowl of vanilla sugar for my morning oatmeal is undoubtedly in my future.
And now we're back in the saddle. Watch out for a lot more about goat. Up this week: a Spanish-stye roasted leg. Yum. (You could make it with a leg of lamb, too--a great dinner for the holidays ahead.) And many more bits of real food. Because they've got it in Polynesia. And we have it here, too.
Reader Comments (3)
This is a gorgeous post. I dream of one day walking on a beach in Tahiti, or somewhere in the near vicinity. And to this winter weary Midwesterner, your photos are a delightfully soothing respite from the endless expanse of white and brown outside my window. I'm looking forward to those recipes.
That sounds and looks absolutely marvellous. I've never really thought about the pacific as a place I wanted to visit and have always been drawn more to the northerly countries (I will make it to Siberia one day, I will!). But I may be changing my mind solely on the basis of tasting lots of different varieties of bananas. Well, okay, the back to zero degrees weather we're having may have a teensy bit to do with it. Glad you both enjoyed your break.
Thanks for allowing me to dream of the sun and warm temps of the Pacific Islands. Some day, I'll go further than Hawaii.