Food in Fiji

Eating in Fiji, if you live here for any length of time, can be a bit of a challenge.  There are lots of fresh fruits and veggies that make for excellent dishes if you are cooking for yourself.  But I don't have access to a proper kitchen, so I'm either eating fresh fruit or going to restaurants.

To make things even more challenging, I've been hesitant to eat meat here.  I have a healthy Jewish girl's love for corned beef, but after reading this disgusting story about a child choking on a piece of cow's skin in her corned beef, I've been extremely reluctant to order anything that could be canned meat.  Fiji tends to get the meat that Australia and New Zealand reject, so this isn't a horrible decision.  But it does make eating out here more difficult.

First, I hope you like your food fried or oily.  If you like chips (fries), then are you in luck.  Casava wedges, potato skins... you name it, they fry it.  And add a lovely little sauce.  The curries available in Fiji are extensive, but most of the restaurants do not go lightly on the oil.  My favorites are jackfruit curry (jackfruit is cousin to breadfruit and is a sticky starch) and bhindi (okra) curry.  But with the amount of oil, the bhindi curry is usually fried okra without breading.  Yum, but not necessarily something you want to eat every day when the weather is in the 80s. 

Second, it can be very challenging to eat lightly here.  Fijian restaurants don't really do salad.  I've had some lovely salads in Fiji--one with a dressing that is a coworker's secret recipe that I'd love to have.  But salads in restaurants are very uncommon.  I ordered "salad nicoise" from one of the restaurants I go to often, and ended up with four pieces of lettuce--the garnish on which the eggs, potatoes, green beans and olives that made up the salad sat.  That same restaurant has now added a beet and feta salad that has actual lettuce and is really pretty good.

There are some fabulous things here--pretty much anything with roasted pumpkin (soup, mashed, spread), mangoes and papayas.  I usually go to Palm Court "Bistro" for lunch and getting a sandwich and fresh juice.  Fiji could definitely do with more fresh juice shops.  Last night for dinner I went to Seoul House, which is in hotel I'm staying at.  I had a surprisingly wonderful stirfried noodles and veggies dish.

Sunshine!

The sun just broke through the clouds, for the first time since the morning I arrived (Saturday) in Fiji.  Oh rainy season, your grey clouds are so depressing.  Fortunately, the warm weather more than makes up for the lack of sunshine.