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Lap-lap
The traditional dish of Vanuatu is a pudding called lap-lap,
eaten alongside the staple diet of fruit, fish, root crops
and the occasional pig. Lap-lap is made from grated vegetables
such as manioc, taro or yam which are soaked in coconut milk
to form a paste. On special occasions, pork, beef, chicken,
fish or even flying fox (a large fruit eating bat) may be
added, or the paste may be sweetened with a few bananas.
Once made, the mixture is wrapped in banana leaves, tied with
vine to form a kind of ‘parcel’, and placed into
a traditional oven called an uma. An uma is created
by digging a hole in the ground and filling it with red hot
rocks. The parcel or food is placed in the centre, covered
with more hot rocks and the whole thing covered over with
dirt and leaves.
After about three hours, the lap-lap is ready to eat; best
served hot and eaten straight away. |
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