Traveling invites us to open our senses. A destination is to be discovered, felt, smelled, listened to, and savored. In French Polynesia, you’ll be amazed. But not only that. The flavors of traditional Polynesian cuisine will enchant your palate.
You will be surprised by the sweet and savory flavors and amazed by the diversity of colors on your plate. In Tahiti and the islands, fruits and vegetables as well as root vegetables grow easily. Coconuts are plentiful and bananas are not limited to one variety. Here the sun works miracles and gives life to a real garden of delights. Although influenced by French and Chinese gastronomy, Tahitian cuisine has kept its authenticity and originality.
The proximity of the lagoons of the Pacific Ocean offers a tasty palette of fish and seafood that you can enjoy raw, marinated or cooked. On the menu: mahi mahi, parrot fish, swordfish, tuna or coconut crabs, lobsters and sea urchins.
The most famous recipe of the Polynesian islands is the raw fish Tahitian style. It is a fish marinated in sea water and lime juice, with raw vegetables and coconut milk.
Invited by locals, you may have the opportunity to taste a piglet or a chicken fafa. The chicken is marinated in coconut milk and served with cooked taro leaves. Note that your dish will have required a few hours of cooking. A traditional Tahitian oven is used, ahima’a. The dish is inserted into an oven dug underground containing hot stones, wood and dry coconuts, which are covered with banana leaves and sand to maintain heat. A steaming process that releases the flavors.
You will discover the taste of uru, the fruit of the breadfruit tree, and that of yam. You will only call a sweet potato by its Tahitian name “umara“.
You will be enchanted by tropical fruits and will want to crunch several times a day in the flesh of a papaya, a pineapple, a mango or a dragon fruit. You can also enjoy them in the form of fruit pastes or jams. A banana po’e will be your desert at least once. You will be amazed by this warm flan made of cassava flour, banana and coconut milk.
The precious vanilla of Tahiti will give a special flavor to your dishes and will stay with you for a long time like the smell of your memories in Polynesia. Forget your sense of starter-main course-desert, here fruity tastes accompany the dishes, the gourmet touches impose themselves in unique creations.
