A FOOD TRADITION

Bougainville Cuisine

Bougainville cuisine draws on the island's fertile gardens, rainforest resources, and surrounding Pacific waters. Taro, sweet potatoes, cassava, bananas, breadfruit, coconut, greens, pork, fish, and shellfish are commonly boiled, roasted, steamed in leaves, or cooked in earth ovens. Coastal communities emphasize reef fish and shellfish, while inland foodways give greater prominence to root crops, greens, and forest products. Examples include taro or cassava cooked with coconut, roasted pork and root vegetables, and grilled fish or shellfish with greens. Bougainville shares many techniques with the Solomon Islands and other northern Melanesian societies, but its regional food culture merits separate representation from a generic Papua New Guinean entry.

Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.