Local Dishes

1. Vakalolo

   Vakalolo (chewy root-crop and coconut pudding)

   Usage

   The classic Fijian pudding, made from starchy root crops (taro, cassava) or the Polynesian chestnut ivi with grated coconut. It is made by men or women, is usually sweet, and is eaten as a snack — not with a meal and not as a dessert

   Grammar Note

   vaka- (to make in the manner of) + lolo (coconut cream). There are perhaps twenty regional names depending on the starch used and on whether the cream is caramelised (lolo buta) or not (lolo droka). It never existed in the coconut-free highlands of Viti Levu

2. Ika vakalolo

   Ika vakalolo (fish simmered in coconut cream)

   Usage

   Fish simmered in coconut cream, a favourite dish. Here vakalolo is the adjective sense — "cooked in coconut cream" — not the pudding noun

   Grammar Note

   Fijian puts the modifier after the noun, so the order is literally "fish, coconut-creamed". Lolo is the same word as the Na lolo card in fj/the Food & Drinks category

3. Purini

   Purini (heavy steamed caramel pudding-cake)

   Usage

   A very heavy brown pudding-cake of flour, water, coconut cream and caramelised sugar, steamed or boiled in a cloth. It is sold in the Suva City market, so you can find it there

   Grammar Note

   A loan from English "pudding". Fijian words do not end in a consonant, hence the final -i; the English d surfaces as r rather than as the prenasalised Fijian d [nd]

4. Sakosako

   Sakosako (mashed-taro coconut pudding)

   Usage

   A pudding of mashed taro with either plain coconut cream (lolo droka) or caramelised coconut cream (lolo buta) (p.215). Which one is used changes both the colour and the sweetness

   Grammar Note

   Every k is a hard [k]; read it as four even beats, sa-ko-sa-ko. The reduplicated shape here is simply part of the word, not an intensifier

5. Madrai vudi

   Madrai vudi (plantain pudding)

   Usage

   A traditional pudding made from plantain (vudi). It is a speciality of Nabukelevu on Kadavu Island, so you are unlikely to meet it on the main island

   Grammar Note

   d is [nd], so madrai sounds like "man-drai" and vudi like "vun-di". Madrai originally named starch food fermented in a pit; in the modern language it also means bread, which is the sense of Na madrai in fj/the Food & Drinks category

6. Vakalavalava

   Vakalavalava (grated cassava baked in a leaf wrapping)

   Usage

   Grated cassava, salted or sugared, baked or boiled in a leaf wrapping. A rather mundane starch snack. It comes either sweet or savoury, so it is worth asking which before you buy

   Grammar Note

   Every v is [v]; six even beats, va-ka-la-va-la-va. It contains none of the prenasalised letters, so it is one of the few dish names you can read straight off the spelling

7. Topoi

   Topoi (flour pudding eaten at breakfast)

   Usage

   A pudding of wheat flour, leavening and water, boiled or fried, sometimes with sugar and coconut cream. It is a common breakfast food and often appears at village breakfasts

   Grammar Note

   The oi is not a diphthong: read it as three beats, to-po-i. Fijian gives every vowel its own beat

8. Lote

   Lote (sweet pumpkin or papaya mash)

   Usage

   A sweet soft mash of pumpkin or papaya cooked with cassava starch. It is now often served cold as a dessert, plain or with coconut cream or even ice cream. Traditionally plantain and arrowroot starch were used instead

   Grammar Note

   Both pumpkin and papaya were introduced by Europeans; only the plantain (vudi) is old in Fiji. Bokoi is a near synonym

9. Babakau

   Babakau (fried breakfast pastry)

   Usage

   A fried pastry turnover eaten at breakfast (p.10). It turns up at breakfast tables all over Fiji and is usually taken with tea

   Grammar Note

   ⚠ b is [mb], so it is "mba-mba-kau", not "ba-ba-kau". The same word also means the wall of a wooden house

10. Qiliqili

    Qiliqili (boiled dough balls for breakfast)

    Usage

    Balls of leavened dough boiled in water and eaten at breakfast, often made from grated cassava, finely grated coconut and cassava starch prepared in advance. A synonym is yaloka ni vonu — "turtle eggs"

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ q is [ŋg], so it sounds closer to "ngili-ngili" than to "kili-kili". The similar-looking qiliqilica means "entangled, unkempt (of hair)" and is a different word (p.197)

11. Parile

    Parile (unleavened flour pancake)

    Usage

    A flour pancake made without leavening, eaten at breakfast or as a snack. A synonym is saparaki, and parale is a spelling variant

    Grammar Note

    Add leavening (vakatubu) and it becomes a different food, called babakau or paikaleti (pikelet). The r is a light tap

12. Ba seisei

    Ba seisei (steamed peeled taro leaf-stems)

    Usage

    Taro leaf-stems (baba) with the skin stripped off and lightly steamed. A delicacy of Fiji, often served in coconut cream. Uncooked, it is also a customary gift brought to the mother of a newborn

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ Ba is also the name of a province and town in western Viti Levu — a different word from the one in fj/the Places & Areas category. In the Rewa dialect ba means the taro root itself (p.15)

13. Pota

    Pota (taro leaves baked in the earth oven without coconut cream)

    Usage

    Taro leaves cooked in the earth oven (lovo) with no coconut cream added at all. A speciality of Vuna on Taveuni Island; the word can also refer to greens generally

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ Do not confuse it with pote, a slang adjective meaning humiliated (p.190). It contrasts with Rourou in fj/the Food & Drinks category, which is the coconut-cream version of taro leaves

14. Duruka

    Duruka (Fiji asparagus)

    Usage

    The unopened flower shoot of Saccharum edule, known in English as Fiji asparagus. It is perhaps best grilled over a fire. White duruka is harvested around April, red duruka twice a year, around March–April and again in November

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ d is [nd], so it is "ndu-ru-ka". The two kinds are named by colour: duruka vulavula (white) and duruka damudamu (red)

15. Nama

    Nama (sea grapes)

    Usage

    The seaweed Caulerpa racemosa, gathered at the shore and rich in iron. It is prized raw, with lemon juice or miti (a salt-water and lemon dressing). It is sold in the Suva markets with a large red chilli and a fermented coconut seasoning called kora

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ Unrelated to Māori nama (number, debt). The general Fijian word for seaweed is lumi, of which nama is one kind. Ucunivanua in Verata, Koro Island and Nabukelevu-ira on Kadavu are known sources

16. Cawaki

    Cawaki (sea urchin eaten raw)

    Usage

    Tripneustes gratilla, normally eaten raw and sometimes cooked very lightly. The delicate taste is a contrast to its murky appearance, and dipping it in hot water renders the spines harmless

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ c is neither [k] nor [s] but the th of "this", [ð] — so [ðaˈwaki]. Regional synonyms are deru and gasagasau, and gaca in Macuata (p.43)

17. Suruwa

    Suruwa (curried seafood in coconut cream)

    Usage

    Seafood, usually small fish, fried and then curried in coconut cream. The word is Hindi in origin, and it is a favoured food of both Fijians and Indians — a dish that sits where Fiji's two food cultures overlap

    Grammar Note

    The verb form is suruwataka, "to prepare food in this manner". It is one of the few dishes of Fiji's Indian community — about 40 per cent of the population — that has settled into the Fijian language

18. Kari

    Kari (curry)

    Usage

    Curry, and also turmeric. Tara kari, "to prepare curry", is a Fijian adaptation of the Hindi thar kari. Curry is on the menu even in Fijian-run eating houses

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ There is a separate verb kari, karia, karitaka meaning "to grate or scrape", as of coconut flesh (p.105). Context tells them apart

19. Waibuta

    Waibuta (fish broth)

    Usage

    The broth left after boiling fish. This was the only soup Fijians drank and the only food actually boiled — clay-pot cooking otherwise steamed food in its own juices. On the coast, short round pots were used only for this fish soup

    Grammar Note

    wai (water, liquid) + buta (cooked). Wai su is a synonym. b is [mb], so the bu is [mbu]

20. Kotai

    Kotai (grated ripe fruit with coconut and sugar)

    Usage

    Ripe fruit such as mango or wi (Tahitian apple), grated and served with shredded coconut and sugar. A synonym is 'otai

    Grammar Note

    Read the ai as its own beat: ko-ta-i. It is one of the things made with maqo, the mango card in fj/the Fruits category

21. Waite

    Waite (grated coconut mixed with bread or biscuits)

    Usage

    A simple snack of grated coconut mixed with bread or biscuits (p.317), the kind of thing put out to nibble in a village house

    Grammar Note

    The spelling of this word varies, and ouaite is a variant. ⚠ The similar waitui means "sea, salt water" and is a different word

22. Micini

    Micini (the meat or fish that accompanies the staple)

    Usage

    The meat or fish eaten alongside "true food" — kakana dina, the staple root crops. The synonym icoi covers any accompaniment, even biscuits with tea. In Lau the word is tokai

    Grammar Note

    A useful concept word when ordering. The point is that it names the accompaniment, not the centrepiece: in a Fijian meal the starch is the main event

23. Kakana dina

    Kakana dina ("real food" — the traditional root staple)

    Usage

    Literally "real food": the prestigious traditional root staples such as taro (dalo) and yam (uvi). Meat or fish, or anything accompanying it, counts only secondarily, as garnish (icoi) — the starch is the main element of a meal

    Grammar Note

    Related: kakana droka (uncooked food), kakana buta (cooked food), kakana draudrau (leafy greens). The dina here is the same word as in Vua dina in fj/the Food & Drinks category; in Fijian "true" marks a ranking of value

24. Magiti

    Magiti (ceremonial presentation of feast food)

    Usage

    The ceremonial presentation of feast food, and the food itself. Presenting and eating are distinguished: the feast where people actually eat the presented food is kana magiti. The word also turns up at resort "lovo nights"

    Grammar Note

    ⚠ g is [ŋ], so it is "ma-ngi-ti", not "ma-gi-ti". A farewell feast is magiti ni bili muana, and the portions are apportioned by the village steward, the tuirara (p.151)

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