A Traditional Fijian Feast

Today we were lucky enough to experience a real Fijian feast and how the local Fijians in a village live their day to day lives.



We visited Malevu Village, a very small village close to our bungalows for a traditional lovo ceremony. A lovo ceremony is where food is wrapped and cooked under native leaves and burlap and buried in the ground with hot stones for special occasions such as the visiting of a chief to his village or for out of country visitors.



Upon our arrival to the village we were greeted by running and excited Fijian children who quickly placed two leis around our necks and before we could say thank you for their graciousness, they blurted out “$2 for the lei”, “$2 for each lei”. Little did we know they would charge us but to see how excited the kids were at getting $2 to buy some goodies from the local candy store was enough reason to give them the money.



The spokesman for the village then took us around the village and told us some key facts about the Fijian culture:
- There are 14 provinces in Fiji each having their own chief
- Each village is specialized in one trait such as fire walking, fishing, carving, turtle calling, cannibalism, etc
- Majority of Fijians are Catholics
- There are 14 dialects in Fiji
- All land in Fiji is owned by natives and are leased to other Fijian citizens or foreigners
- Majority of the villages are along the coast of Vitu Levu consisting of roughly 20-300 individuals
- Most villagers work at hotel resorts, or as civil servants in the major cities or stay in the village to work
- There is a true sense of community where everyone lends a helping hand in the village from building homes, cultivating gardens to taking care of all children which is why there is never a closed door at any home within a village

After the food was removed from the hearth, it was to be prepared for the visitors to enjoy after the traditional kava ceremony which consisted of a ceremony to prepare the national drink of Fiji: Kava. Kava is made from the root of a pepper plant which matures in 5-7 years at which time it is sun dried and then ground up into a powder. The Kava powder is then mixed with water in a large ceremonial bowl using cheesecloth and is given to the head guest or chief first to drink. When drinking kava the ritual is to clap your hands once and say 'Bula' (hello in Fijian) before accepting the bowl with two hands, the drink is to then be consumed in one gulp before returning the bowl and then clapping your hands three times and saying 'Vinaka' (thank you in Fijian). Suffice to say, Kava was NOT our cup of tea. Not only did it make our tongues feel furry, it had a strange grainy texture and chalky flavor to it but out of respect, we had to suck it up and drink that stuff back, not once, but TWICE!! Fijians believe that Kava has medicinal values and has recently been a cash crop for the country.





By this time, dinner from the lovo ceremony was ready to be served. There was plenty of food which included fish, chicken, pork, spinach, sweet potatoes, taro, tapioca and various fruits and vegetables. We ate Fijian style: sitting on the floor with no cutlery and on top of that, Fijians have their guests eat first and do not help themselves until after the guests have eaten and left. This was awkward for us as everyone was pretty much sitting in front of us while we were eating. We felt kind of bad and kept telling them to go ahead and eat as they were so gracious to keep telling us to go back for seconds and thirds and fourths but they insisted they would not eat until after we were finished with the food. The food was plentiful but we found the meat was a bit bland and tasteless.



By the time dinner was done, it was time for entertainment. We were serenaded, guitars were played and the children then started to sing and dance. For us, this was probably the most rewarding part of the evening. To see all of the little kids get excited at wanting to dance and wanting us to participate in their culture was so wonderful and just shows how in Fiji, little things can go a long way.





We ended the evening with a stroll back to our bungalows escorted by one of the villagers who kept freaking us out. Not only did he have broken feet and walked bare foot on the road, he kept looking at Rav kind of funny and kept grossing us out. Suffice to say Rav was scared shitless on the walk home.

We were glad to be back at our bungalow, safe and sound but were very grateful to have been able to experience a bit of the Fijian culture and participate in such a ceremonial evening.

Back to doing nothing tomorrow…thank god!!

Cheers everyone...