We begin our third section of our route in this wonderful destination and this time we are going to learn about some of the peculiarities of the national gastronomy and find out which are the most traditional dishes that we can enjoy in the vast majority of its restaurants.
It could be said that the cuisine of Vanuatu is really interesting and highly appreciated throughout the Pacific area thanks to its high quality and especially originality when preparing the different preparations, although its main ingredient when cooking is coconut. .
The traditional laplap before being prepared
The most typical dish of the country is laplap, a pasty mass on which cassava or yam is usually grated and later placed on spinach leaves and soaked with a whitish liquid made from grated coconut diluted in water, a truly natural and exotic food.
Later pieces of pork, beef or chicken are added that are also wrapped, but these in banana leaves to later cook all the ingredients in earth ovens known as "umus”, To which incandescent stones are added above and below.
It should be noted that thanks to the French presence on the island, we can find quality restaurants in Port Vila where we can taste a wide variety of dishes, although if we move away from the capital, we will find places where the number of dishes is more limited and where they mainly base their cuisine on chicken and rice among other things.
There are also specialties made with fish, chicken or pork cooked in a traditional umu oven. These dishes are usually accompanied by rice or taro, a typical plant of the area that gives a really characteristic flavor to gastronomic preparations. The fish can be found raw, but marinated in coconut milk and seasoned with different condiments or even tropical fruits.
The traditional umu before being covered with incandescent stones
And to drink we will have the kava, a ritual drink that is usually served in half a coconut shell, but be careful, it must be drunk with great caution if we do not want to have great dizziness or in large intakes it can cause hallucinations and that the eyes turn red during its effect. A glass is more than enough.
We got here with the gastronomy and we are going to prepare to continue learning more about this destination in the next section, which will be dedicated to culture.