Books about kava

[kl.Gray Owl]

I just received this amazing book, which goes into crazy obsessive detail on the biology and chemistry--isozymes, zymotypes, sugar, protein and mineral composition in the root, branch structure.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/...f=oh_o04_s00_i00_details

I'm also interested in fiction set in Oceania involving kava drinking.

 

[kl.Gray Owl]

Kavain turns out to be the substance that causes numbing of the mouth, so numbing is a good indicator of kavain concentration. DHM and DHK have antimycotic activity, killing yeast and bacteria, so I think it's unlikely that kava would spoil per se, although oxidation of the lipids could lead to off flavors. Vanuata seems to be the most likely biological origin of kava. This is a really fascinating book.

 

[starsofclay]

yeah i had thought that it was antibacterial but I never knew it was DHM and DHK that caused it

 

[kl.Gray Owl]

Wow, this looks super cool BOTANY 446 HAWAIIAN ETHNOBOTANY University of Hawai'i



https://sites.google.com/...hawaiianethnobotany/home



I'm looking for a book Hawaiian Awa; Views of an Ethnobotanical Treasure by Helen Rogers Ed Johnson (2006) Publisher: Association of Hawaiian AWA (2006) ASIN: B001OIVDHG and I think they use it in that class.

AWESOME it's available as a downloadable PDF from http://awadevelopment.org/library.htm

 

[kl.Gray Owl]

I'm listening to this book on audio book now from Audible and loving it, I like the way that he describes the kava experience and "listening to the kava" that seems like a great way to describe it.



Getting Stoned with the Savages: A Trip through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu

UNABRIDGED

by J. Maarten Troost

http://www.audible.com/pd...id=1329886785&sr=1-2



I've also got this one in the queue for my next listen:



The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific

UNABRIDGED

by J. Maarten Troost



One might consider The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific, by Paul Theroux, but he seems like a bit of a prick to me. I admit that I hate getting to a destination, especially airports, but once there I am more of the "go native" school of thought. Happy to me is walking through a banana field in the middle of the night with a flashlight and a machete smoking a puro cigar, I could give a crap about the major tourist destinations, this is why they call me "El Lomero" in the Dominican Republic
I wonder if Anthony Bourdain did any episodes in kava country, thinking probably not.  Actually, of course he's been to Hawaii, but don't think he had any 'awa while there.

 

[kl.Lanake]

Anthony Bourdain only drank alcohol when I saw his south pacific and Hawaii shows. The Idiot Abroad on the Science Channel with Karl Pilkington went to Vanuatu. There was a brief scene of some kava being pounded and he mentioned drinking some but no more than that. I was very disappointed in that episode.

I enjoyed the Troost books and would agree with your take on Paul Theroux.

If you read James Michener's "More Tales From the South Pacific", he mentions kava briefly stating that it was one of his fondest remembrances of his visit there.

For some comic relief there's a great clip on you tube from "Roseann's Nuts" where she was in Hawaii drinking kava in a restaurant with Phyllis Diller.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3PVp5JYIG0