#34 Federated States of Micronesia
- Jen
- Mar 28, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 4, 2022
This is the first country I’ve pulled out where it’s not completely clear how to get there. Even North Korea was easier to navigate to than this place! I think you can fly from Brisbane. But when I say “there”, that’s only to one part of a great big massive expanse of islands.
We are now in the middle of the Pacific Ocean: head north-east from Papua New Guinea and you’re on the right track.
FSM comprises over 600 islands grouped into four states, spanning 2,700km longitudinally. The country was formed post-WWII when the UN formed the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which also included Palau and the Marshall Islands, with the USA as Trustee. FSM has had its own government since 1979, gained independence from the USA in 1986 and has been a member of the UN since 1991. FSM still has close ties with the USA, with the USA providing all military defence and immigration opportunities.
The four states from east to west are:
Yap
- Hello is mongethin.
- 4 big islands, lots of little ones.
- Yap has stone money in the form of stone discs with a hole in the middle, up to 4m in diameter. Historically these were legal tender but nowadays they’re mainly ceremonial. When a financial transaction is made, the stone money doesn’t physically change hands because it’s just too big and heavy, but everyone knows who owns which ‘coin’. The Yapese must be very honest people. Can you imagine what would happen if you left your money lying around in south Wales?
Chuuk
- Hello is ran allim.
- Several groups of small islands.
- Weno island is in Chuuk state and the largest city in the country.
- Chuuk state is scheduled to hold a referendum for independence next year.
Pohnpei
- Hello is kaselehlia.
- One main island, few littlies.
- Home to the nation’s capital, Palikir. Incidentally, Pohnpei’s state capital is a separate city, Kolonia. Wouldn’t it be great if London could be the capital of the UK but we could have Manchester as our English capital!
- It’s one of the wettest places on earth with average annual rainfall at over 7,600mm. To put that into context, Cardiff, Britain’s rainiest city and where I live, gets a mere 1,152mm a year.
Kosrae
- Hello is len wo.
- Made up of a single island with roughly six and a half thousand inhabitants.
- While Yap has its ginormous stone coins, the historic monetary system of Kosrae was seashells.
- Kosrae tangerines are supposedly super-sweet and juicy.
The best thing I’ve discovered about our visit to these wonderful islands is that there are no crocodiles or snakes!
Micronesian cuisine
As is typical for the region, the staple foods of Micronesia include sweet potato, taro, coconuts and bananas. Rice, all of which is imported, is also an important part of the diet. Fish is eaten, of course, and just like the other countries we’ve visited in the region, chickens are eaten on special occasions and pigs on occasions of even more specialness.
Breadfruit is abundant and eaten in a number of ways: made into chips, mashed, baked, fermented, steamed or in a breadfruit salad with other salady items.
Chicken kelaguen
Kelaguen is an island dish a bit like ceviche, where a lemony marinade ‘cooks’ raw fish or meat. However, this does not work with chicken as the protein fibres in chicken are more protected than they are in fish and can’t be reached by the acid (lemon). So, when you make chicken kelaguen, make sure you cook it after marinating it!
Coconut, spring onions and chillis are usually also involved and I got some soy sauce in the marinade too:
- Marinate chicken thighs in lemon juice, soy sauce, onion and chilli.
- Grill the chicken!
- Shred the chicken!
- Dunno why I’m shouting the instructions!
- Mix the shredded chicken with spring onion, red pepper, coconut (fresh ideally but I had coconut cream and desiccated coconut leftover from Papua New Guinea so I just used that) and more lemon juice.
- Serve with a tortilla or pita.
Chicken kelaguen is flipping tasty! I just love that balance of coconutty creamy with the chilli and lemon and the raw spring onion for fresh crunch. Nothing was overpowering and the flavours complimented the chicken delightfully. Yum-yum-yum. I could easily see myself eating this for lunch under a palm tree on a white sandy beach…
Since I don’t really know what transport links are available from here, I best get moving to head to…GUINEA-BISSAU.
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