#22 Fiji

Bula! Bula!

Bula means life. It’s the greeting in Fijian. A lot of the time you will hear it twice as “Bula! Bula!”…I’m not sure why. One Bula! or two, it is always delivered with a warm smile. The people are super-friendly, and a warm smile extends into an ear-to-ear grin if you talk about rugby.

I spent a very wet and stormy two weeks in Fiji, on the main island of Viti Levu and island-hopping between places with names like Octopus Resort, Mantaray Resort and Blue Lagoon. On the rare occasion that the sun burned through the clouds it was paradise on Earth.

The beer is rubbish though.

I’m not sure that the traditional food is much better. There’s a lot of cassava. That was my only take-home on indigenous food.

Luckily, Fijian food is saved as about 40% of the population are of Indian descent.

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Fijian curry

Fijian-style curries tend to not be too creamy. Think black mustard seeds, curry leaves, turmeric and fenugreek, typically with chicken as the source of protein.

I found this recipe for a chicken curry, which sounded fragrant, spicy, quick and easy. I can confirm it was all of those things.

I also made rotis, as I hadn’t ever made them before. The combination of the spice and the baking smells in my house that day were unreal and the sensations in my mouth were even better.

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Walu fish

A line in my Plan of Action blog from 2019 reads: “Beware the walu fish in Fiji”. Below is a photo of a walu fish. Shall I pretend I caught that myself…? Or I could tell you that there was a super-attractive Aussie at this resort who had just spearfished this bad boy and that I was hearts-in-eyes emoji about this man. He offered to photo me with his fish…and I let him.

On the menu for dinner that same evening was walu fish. I knew it was freshly caught and I’d personally bonded with the fish so of course I tucked right in. It was a beautifully succulent piece of fish. After dinner, I reclined in hammock (it had finally stopped raining) and got on Google to learn about the walu fish.

Uh oh!

Walu fish is BANNED in Japan and Italy! Other countries also advise against eating it and have marketing bans on it.

Eating this fish causes oily, orange, explosive diarrhoea…and victims have reported cases where this has happened uncontrollably without warning. Walu fish eaters have also reported that the oily, orange, explosive diarrhoea can occur many days after consumption.

You can imagine my trepidation over the next few days over straying too far from the bathroom…but the oily, orange, explosive diarrhoea never came…either never came or it’s still lurking somewhere inside me 2.5 years later.

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Kokoda

Kokoda is the national dish of Fiji. It’s like Peruvian ceviche – fish cooked without heat using citrus juices. It’s also mixed with coconut, onions, chilli and some herbs.

I went out for kokoda one night to a restaurant on a clifftop on the mainland with fabulous sunset views…if there’s not a storm. There was of course a power cut. I couldn’t really see what I was eating but it was tasty…

…at the time I thought kokoda was the name of the fish. Nope, it’s the name of the dish. Guess what type of fish it’s made with…

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Hope I make it to…TRINIDAD & TOBAGO without any little accidents!

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#jencookstheworld