Tonga, the Friendly Islands

Tonga, the Friendly Islands

Malo e lele! Welcome to the friendly islands of the Kingdom of Tonga. There are about 171 islands in the three main island groups of Tongatapu, Ha’apai, and Vava’u. Tonga has the distinction of being the only island nation that was never formally colonized by a...

Palusami: A Samoan Staple

Photo courtesty of Boschen American Samoa Making palusami (PAW-loo-SAW-mee) is the man’s job in Samoa as is most of the traditional cooking. Anything that goes into the umu (oo-moo), a type of above-ground oven that uses red hot lava rocks to cook the food, is...

Polynesian Men Do All the Cooking?

Up and until the time I entered college, I had no idea that men do all the cooking anywhere.  Certainly not in my home, though my dad was a good cook himself.  Unfortunately, his genes never got passed down to me.  It wasn’t until I started working at the Polynesian...