Ben and Jo in Micronesia: Our Pohnpeian Food Experience- An Introduction

The food here is great. Slightly different to our staples in Canberra, but very exotic, as you would expect. In great abundance are coconuts, bananas, limes, starfruit, papaya, taro, cucumbers, breadfruit, fish and crabs. In significantly less abundance are other fruits and vegetables. In no abundance is good cheese and white wine that is not off and bright yellow like Berocca wee, whatever the grape.

If you eat local foods, the low salaries paid here can go a long way. Mangrove crabs are about $3-4 each for medium ones, $6 for whoppers. Fish are $1.30-$1.50 a pound, which roughly equates to $3-4 a kilo. They are caught the same day they are sold, and are delicious. The cheapest dish at restaurants is tuna sashimi, which means I am in heaven. Local food is really cheap, imported is not that cheap to offensively outrageous.

It's all US dollars here... of course now I am earning US dollars and sending money home to pay the mortgage the AUD is over 80c to a $US - when I was travelling and coverting the other way it was 48c. Typical!

Here are some prices to get an idea:
Local
4 local mangoes – 37c (these are very fibrous, not all juicy cheeks like the Australian ones)
1 2kg pumpkin - $1.60
1 banana flower – 25c
20 bananas - 75c (there are so many different varieties of banana here, it's amazing!)
12 small limes – 50c
coconut - 50c

Imported
1 red capsicum $4.82
tomatoes $7/kg
apple - 90c

If you don't cook your own food or eat sashimi, the pounds can pile on very, very quickly. Most dishes are full of lard, and deep frying is the preferred cooking method Chicken, pork, bananas, taro, breadfruit - doesn't matter. Fry the sucker. (see past entry - this nation unfortunately ranks as the second fattest in the world.... changing diets from local foods to imported rice, spam and doughnuts has been very bad. Then add frying everything and the habit of driving everywhere, even 100m down the road, and you've got a completely devastating health disaster).

$6.50 for all you can eat is the standard for lunch here. Sashimi by the truck load, fried stuff by the cargo ship load and some veggies here and there. I'm used to bringing my lunch to work but it's not very sociable. I work at Palikir, the National Government site. It's about 8km from town, and there are no eating establishments there. So you have to drive to buy lunch. I'm not into driving everywhere, but there is little choice. My environmental contribution is to stay here, eat my own lunch and read a book. But I still get lured into town a couple of times a week... I mean, it would be rude not to!

I am not meant to attend all you can eat establishments. Not because I don't get good value from them – on the contrary. Purely because I can put away food like nobody's business. It's quite disgusting. I wonder how long it will be before I switch to the local Muu Muus - bless them, they cover a multitude of sins!

Some restaurants and food... Mmm. I'm getting hungry!

View from the Ocean View Hotel - left picture