The international quality of Vanuatu cuisine is a bonus during a stay in the South Pacific islands. The food reflects a long history of the world’s people coming and going.

- By John Jacobs

East of Australia sits the Republic of Vanuatu, an archipelago nation consisting of 83 islands in the South Pacific. If that sounds romantic and exotic, Vanuatu’s indigenous people (called ni-Vanuatu), and visitors who never left over the decades, would be pleased. They encourage people from around the world to visit their islands and enjoy their cuisine and hospitality.

One of the first things to understand about the food and drink is that it has an international flair due to the islands’ history and because Port Vila still brings people from France, China, the Mediterranean, Asia, Italy and many other countries. The restaurants and cafes that grew up around the port catered to international visitors, and the diverse cuisine became traditional.

For those who are not familiar with Vanuatu, the islands form a country that is included in Melanesia, an Oceanic sub-region. Melanesia includes Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia and West Papua. About 3,500 years ago, New Guinea and Solomon Islands natives paddled their canoes to Vanuatu and called it home. Portugal spotted the island in 1606, and James Cook, the British explorer, named it New Hebrides in 1774. The name was eventually changed to Vanuatu. Until 1906, there was British-French rule, but in 1980 the indigenous Melanesians gained independence. From 1906 until the 1920s, the economy was dependent on plantations that used Vietnamese labor.

Haute Cuisine Meets Bush Meat on Islands

The brief history of Vanuatu gives a sense of how the multicultural quality of the cuisine developed. With so many people ruling, visiting and working on the islands, it is a natural consequence that the recipes represent many cultures and nationalities with a decidedly island flair. Calamari is coconut-coated. Chicken is covered with papaya and lime dressing. Breakfasts may include lobster and champagne while enjoying a view of one of the bays and palm trees.

Authentic Vanuatu recipes, untouched by European influence, are scarce because early inhabitants had few native foods growing on the islands. The dishes that sound like they are served in New York restaurants often present a clear intersection of haute cuisine and traditional rural foods.

The popular L’Houstalet Restaurant serves flying fox with a red wine sauce, which may seem like a daring delicacy to many Westerners. The Vanuatu flying fox belongs to the Old World fruit bat family and is a bush meat. The traditional method of cooking involves wrapping the flying fox in banana leaves and slow baking the packet in an underground oven.

Going Underground

Laplap is another national dish cooked underground. The basic recipe involves peeling the ribs of laplap leaves, crisscrossing them and drizzling coconut milk over the leaves. Manioc or cassava is grated into a pile on the leaves and a plantain is placed next to it. More coconut milk is drizzled over the plantain and the manioc. Finally, the leaves are wrapped around the filling. The package is then cooked in an underground oven. The underground dishes are a reminder of the days when island residents had no electricity.

The ni-Vanuatu have many variations of the laplap dish. For example, wild spinach or another vegetable may be placed on the leaves; topped with chicken, green onions and tomatoes; and then wrapped into a bundle. Yams or taro root can be grated instead of manioc. All-in-one-meal variations are also made with pork, fish or beef. Vegetarians skip the meats and fish and just use a filling made of taro, breadfruit or banana blended with grated coconut. Coconut cream is the first juice extracted from the coconut and is thicker than the second extract of coconut milk.

Dining From and By the Sea

Coconut is central to Vanuatu traditional recipes because it was the most important (and main) edible plant on the island before settlers began arriving. Food for indigenous people mostly came from the sea, so a rich variety of fish, crabs and lobsters has always been, and still is, a part of the diet. Coconut and its juices are used in sauces and coatings and frequently appears in recipes. Papaya, banana, taro, breadfruit and cassava are the fruits and vegetables used in many dishes.

A favorite dish is succulent escargot, and that is attributed to French influence. In fact, settlers from thousands of years introduced new foods like pigs, rice, sugarcane, lemons and the other foods already mentioned. The British and French introduced mangoes, papayas, pineapples, beef, poultry, potatoes, wheat and pineapples.

Now the locals also sell home- or garden-grown paw paw, raspberries, durian and leeks. Espiritu Santo Island is where Santo Beef is raised. Lean and flavorful, it is recognized as world-class beef.

Travel Via the Palate

Dining out in Vanuatu is a multicultural experience, especially in Port Vila. Restaurant themes include Chinese, Polynesian, Melanesian, Korean, Italian, French, European and ni-Vanuatu. A nice day can be spent strolling the waterfront and enjoying an array of traditional Vanuatu foods, fresh fruit, baked goods and foods cooked by street vendors. Travelers can view the ocean while watching their chicken or fish being cooked by vendors on benches.

Most restaurants are located in Port Vila on the island of Efate and Luganville on the island of Espiritu Santo, the largest of the Vanuatu islands. However, there are restaurants on other islands, such as Tanna Island, Erakor Island and Aore Island. Many of the restaurants are operated by the resorts.

It is fun to experiment with the island fare because of the diversity. Think of it like this: Visitors can travel around the world via their palates and never have to leave the idyllic islands.

About DiversityPlus Magazine:
DiversityPlus is much more than “just” a supplier diversity magazine.Thanks to its strong media platform, which includes the print edition, digital magazine, website, weekly newsletter, social media, blogs, and video, DiversityPlus is able to provide print readers in seven countries and more than 117,000 digital readers worldwide with access to leading-edge supplier diversity content, webinars, and events.

What you’ll read in the pages of DiversityPlus represents the most current and impactful thinking about diverse supplier relationships. Plus, with over 17 years in print, our trend research, interviews, and feature articles showcase a depth of industry relationships unmatched by any other supplier diversity publication.