PM - Well, you asked for ritual information... Despite the "appetite suppression" that kava is known to have, and the reference in J Maarten Troost's book about being able to tell the kava drinking expats in Vanuatu from others because of their skinniness, there is a tradition in many of the villages for a pot of food to be brought to nakamal for the men to have after the kava. In my home village, they refer to it as "naunu," or the mouthwash that you consume after eating kava.
Often times, it is a pot of yams, "pig soup" which contains stewed pork and rice that you eat with a folded leaf, the tops of certain trees that are used as food, or island cabbage. Sometimes, if you are lucky, there will be sweet coconut innards of the already-sprouted variety. (When a coconut starts to sprout a new palm, the inside - normally filled with juice/water - will fill up and take on a spongy texture, and tastes almost like a piece of coconut cake. It was one of my favorite bush foods, bar none! I had NO IDEA about this, despite living in FL with coconut trees most of my life! Coconuts contain not only food and drink, but the outer husk is cut into a spoon too - so coconuts really have all you need for a full meal, contained in one nice package! (The husk fiber is also used for toilet paper - but that is a story for another time.) OUCH! Give me my Charmin!
Nonetheless, I have REALLY learned to appreciate a nice, filling, hot meal after kava - even though it seems counter-intuitive. Once you get over the hump and have a few, it is almost natural. The heat seems to help the lactones to decrease in viscosity, so that absorption is easier - but I would not do it before drinking... just seems to get in the way of things.
Most of the good nakamals in Port Vila have some sort of kitcheny-type area for drinkers to get a post-shell mouthwash, and some of them have REALLY good selections. Stickmeat is a fave, as well a pawpaw (papaya.) Island cabbage is served in a bundle on a left for about 40-60vatu - about 50 cents! Laplap was straight-up 50 cents per section! The nakamal where Dr. Lebot and I went drinking when I was there had a tray FULL of pig stew with white rice for roughly the equal of $3. (Though I am not a fan of white rice, the stew was class-A!) Id you leave you room with $10, you can count on enough kava to send you cross-eyed, a filling, home-cooked meal, and still have enough left for the bus or cab ride home (as you will be too dronk to walk.) In the villages, you just have to stagger up the hill (or down it) to your hut... much easier - but not the choice of food.
So, while it does numb the appetite as well as the mouth, once you start eating, you realize just how enjoyable and comforting it is to have a full hot meal with a head full of kava, and you might not go back. In the villages I was at, despite spitting out the last mouthful, it would likely not be a complete kava session without some sort of food to cleanse the palate And, once you get your first taste - it is all over... so get ready for a MEAL! (A starchy, bland, but oh-so-satisfying meal.) I particularly like the laplap that has the pig-strips laid in the middle of it.
Hope that helps. Boy am I ever long-winded in these responses. Please let me know if my writing ever crosses from informative to tedious, and I will try to be more concise.
Cheers! Maboos maboos!
Very Truly,
Iahi (Andrew)
Often times, it is a pot of yams, "pig soup" which contains stewed pork and rice that you eat with a folded leaf, the tops of certain trees that are used as food, or island cabbage. Sometimes, if you are lucky, there will be sweet coconut innards of the already-sprouted variety. (When a coconut starts to sprout a new palm, the inside - normally filled with juice/water - will fill up and take on a spongy texture, and tastes almost like a piece of coconut cake. It was one of my favorite bush foods, bar none! I had NO IDEA about this, despite living in FL with coconut trees most of my life! Coconuts contain not only food and drink, but the outer husk is cut into a spoon too - so coconuts really have all you need for a full meal, contained in one nice package! (The husk fiber is also used for toilet paper - but that is a story for another time.) OUCH! Give me my Charmin!
Nonetheless, I have REALLY learned to appreciate a nice, filling, hot meal after kava - even though it seems counter-intuitive. Once you get over the hump and have a few, it is almost natural. The heat seems to help the lactones to decrease in viscosity, so that absorption is easier - but I would not do it before drinking... just seems to get in the way of things.
Most of the good nakamals in Port Vila have some sort of kitcheny-type area for drinkers to get a post-shell mouthwash, and some of them have REALLY good selections. Stickmeat is a fave, as well a pawpaw (papaya.) Island cabbage is served in a bundle on a left for about 40-60vatu - about 50 cents! Laplap was straight-up 50 cents per section! The nakamal where Dr. Lebot and I went drinking when I was there had a tray FULL of pig stew with white rice for roughly the equal of $3. (Though I am not a fan of white rice, the stew was class-A!) Id you leave you room with $10, you can count on enough kava to send you cross-eyed, a filling, home-cooked meal, and still have enough left for the bus or cab ride home (as you will be too dronk to walk.) In the villages, you just have to stagger up the hill (or down it) to your hut... much easier - but not the choice of food.
So, while it does numb the appetite as well as the mouth, once you start eating, you realize just how enjoyable and comforting it is to have a full hot meal with a head full of kava, and you might not go back. In the villages I was at, despite spitting out the last mouthful, it would likely not be a complete kava session without some sort of food to cleanse the palate And, once you get your first taste - it is all over... so get ready for a MEAL! (A starchy, bland, but oh-so-satisfying meal.) I particularly like the laplap that has the pig-strips laid in the middle of it.
Hope that helps. Boy am I ever long-winded in these responses. Please let me know if my writing ever crosses from informative to tedious, and I will try to be more concise.
Cheers! Maboos maboos!
Very Truly,
Iahi (Andrew)
I'm always captivated when reading them.