The following highlights some of the popular Traditional Vanuatuan Foods. If you manage to be in an Vanuatuan restaurant or you are visiting Vanuatu, I recommend the following:
1. Red Emperor
Red Emperor is an excellent eating fish with juicy white flesh that is good both hot and cold. This is an impressive fish, both for its bright red head and skin, and for its impressive size. It can be grilled, steamed or baked whole, but its fillet shape is also perfect for grilling, broiling, roasting, steaming and roasting. If grilling or broiling larger whole varieties, carve the meat first.
2. Poulet
The poulet fish is a native species of Vanuatu snapper prized for its unique taste reminiscent of chicken. There is no doubt why the fish was named poulet, which means chicken fish in French. Usually cooked immediately after catching, whole or filleted, the firm flesh makes this fish suitable for a variety of cooking techniques, such as grilling, broiling, roasting, frying or steaming. Typical accompaniments are cream sauce, baked or mashed potatoes, fries, scallops, vegetables and a glass of wine or cold beer.
3. Coconut Crab
The Vanuatu crab used to be considered a delicacy and became known as the coconut crab because coconut is one of the main food sources of this decapod crustacean. Coconut crabs have no recognisable shell colour and can be seen in a variety of colours, including dark purple, bright blue, orange-red, brown and even mixed shades of yellow, red and blue. These crabs are known to steal pots, pans and other household items and are often referred to as robber crabs.
4. Flying Fox
The white flying fox is endemic to Vanuatu. It has large, well-developed eyes and oval, swallowless ears. The bats feed mainly on fruit and nectar. In cooking, the flying fox is mainly used in Vanuatu’s national dish.
5. Steak and Curry Sauce
A dish with a tasty and hearty flavour. The meat just melts in your mouth and the sauce has a hint of Indian flavour. This simple beef curry is a dinner favourite and better than any takeaway.
6. Simboro
Simboro resembles the Greek dish dolmades. It is a roll of grated plantain, cassava, yam, taro or flour that is wrapped in banana leaves and covered with coconut milk.
7. Santo Beef
It is made from one of the oldest French bull breeds, the Bourgogne Charolais de Bourgogne. The Charolais breed, known for its fast growth and good muscling, as well as its high meat yield, provides an industrial quality meat rich in iron and low in fat, making it a delicacy.
8. Kava
A traditional non-alcoholic drink, it is very popular in Vanuatu. A highly regarded drink made from Piper methysticum, it is usually drunk in the evening before dinner, mostly by men, but increasingly by women. While it has mild narcotic and relaxing effects on the individual, it is most appreciated for the relaxed social atmosphere with which it is traditionally associated, both in urban and rural areas, in the context of nakamal.
9. Lap Lap
The national ceremonial dish is laplap pudding, made from grated roots or banana mixed with coconut milk and sometimes vegetables and meat, wrapped in leaves, and baked for hours in a traditional earth oven.
10. Tuluk
It is a traditional food consisting of tapioca dough (also called yucca or manioc) with shredded pork stuffing inside. It is wrapped in banana leaves and steamed.
If you found this list useful, here are some more Traditional Oceanian Foods to try out on my Pinterest channel.