Just thought I'd put this here
- Thread starter Elmanaro
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- fiji kava vanuatu vanuatu kava
kasa_balavu
Yaqona Dina
DW bro at least it's not as bad as Tongan
kastom_lif
Kava Lover
There are Tongan vendors who don't put kasa / stem in their kava. Shoutout to Ofa's Kava and Kavaloloko.
I just learned the other day that Tongans haven't always made kava from dry powder. They used to drink green fresh roots like Vanuatu, but changed when missionaries tried to ban kava. (easier to hide powder kava, and store it somewhere safe for a long time)
I just learned the other day that Tongans haven't always made kava from dry powder. They used to drink green fresh roots like Vanuatu, but changed when missionaries tried to ban kava. (easier to hide powder kava, and store it somewhere safe for a long time)
kastom_lif
Kava Lover
As for the Fijian tradition of dried roots, I don't know why. Although presenting sevusevu with fresh roots in Fiji might be a problem: what if the chief doesn't want to drink kava right away? I can't imagine such a thing, but maybe in old times there were chiefs who would skip a few days between sessions. In that case, dried roots for sevusevu are a smart choice. And of course, if the highest ranking members of society are drinking dried kava, then it would follow that everyone else would assume dried roots are the best.
As someone who lives outside the south pacific I'm grateful for dried roots 'cause that's the only way we can get any kava at all.
As someone who lives outside the south pacific I'm grateful for dried roots 'cause that's the only way we can get any kava at all.
kasa_balavu
Yaqona Dina
IIRC kava roots were sometimes (but rarely) used dried pre-contact. I believe green kava prep (chewing) was banned by the colonial govt on hygiene grounds. Further, I believe chewing was learned from the Tongans, with Fijians originally using coral to grate kava.
These days green kava (the whole plant) is used in only the most important sevusevus, with high chiefs. For smaller occasions, dried roots are used, and for the smallest run of the mill ceremonies, a few brown paper bags of pounded grog and a pack or two of cigarettes will do.
Jacob Bula
Nobody
Was just talking about the Dude yesterday to my co-worker.
kastom_lif
Kava Lover
Donny, you're out of your element. The Chinaman only spilled Vanuatu Water on your rug because he needed a new plastik
There's no doubt that Vanuatu kavas are best for strength but I love the taste of a heavy Fijian or more or less any Tongan kava. So you need to put a bit more powder in, so what? I am though very much looking forward to trying the instants I'm getting from @Elmanaro . I always like instant kava.
Alia
'Awa Grower/Collector
So true, even in Hawai'i it was fresh till early years of 1st outside contact.
Dry was to "hide it under the bed mat".
Jacob Bula
Nobody
I love that movie so much.Donny, you're out of your element. The Chinaman only spilled Vanuatu Water on your rug because he needed a new plastik
Jacob Bula
Nobody
I've been drinking Tongan kava all day on my days off. Keeps the depression at bay.
kasa_balavu
Yaqona Dina
Donny, you're out of your element. The Chinaman only spilled Vanuatu Water on your rug because he needed a new plastik
Henry
.
To be fair, it's mostly the WAY in which kava is mixed, not the quality of the root itself.
Fijians and Tongans like to socialise over kava with a strong emphasis on the actual social interactions/talanoa. You simply can't smash down a shell after shell of paint thick green kava and expect to socialise with mates for hours. This is also why it's not uncommon to see Red Bull, "Mother" and other energy drinks being used as chasers at some of those kava circles. People want to stay up and interact with their friends for hours.
As for hangovers after Fijian kava. I'd say this too might be due to the fact that people stay up till 2, 3 or 5am drinking kava and snacking on junk food or even drinking red bulls in between shells. but also the sheer amount of kava that gets consumed when one never quite gets into the vanuatu style pure bliss.
I think most Western kava bars choose a compromise approach. The kava is strong, but not paint thick. It's sufficiently potent that everyone can feel and appreciate it even after just one shell, but not so strong that people wouldn't be able to have a long conversation after a couple of shells.
Fijians and Tongans like to socialise over kava with a strong emphasis on the actual social interactions/talanoa. You simply can't smash down a shell after shell of paint thick green kava and expect to socialise with mates for hours. This is also why it's not uncommon to see Red Bull, "Mother" and other energy drinks being used as chasers at some of those kava circles. People want to stay up and interact with their friends for hours.
As for hangovers after Fijian kava. I'd say this too might be due to the fact that people stay up till 2, 3 or 5am drinking kava and snacking on junk food or even drinking red bulls in between shells. but also the sheer amount of kava that gets consumed when one never quite gets into the vanuatu style pure bliss.
I think most Western kava bars choose a compromise approach. The kava is strong, but not paint thick. It's sufficiently potent that everyone can feel and appreciate it even after just one shell, but not so strong that people wouldn't be able to have a long conversation after a couple of shells.
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jewalker7842
Kava Curious
Why would they try to ban kava? That makes no sense to be. Me being very "Baptist" in my beliefs have no problems with it at all. It doesn't control you like marijuana or alcohol does. I have no problem with people who drink to smoke that is their business. I just know I was going down a road that wasn't good before I discovered kava. This stuff is amazing and those who knock it before they try it are missing out.
It was seen as something by missionaries at the time as a direct tie to “savagery“ (their words) of non-colonial ways. Not so much that it’s harmful, but that it signified defiance to drink it. In fact, some of the islanders rejected the missionaries entirely and held kava at the center of their movement.
Suggested reading on the subject:
Young, Michael W. 1995. “Kava and Christianity in Central Vanuatu: With an Appendix on the Ethnography of Kava Drinking in Nikaura, Epi.” Canberra Anthropology 18 (1–2): 61–96. https://sci-hub.se/10.1080/03149099509508409