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Nuclear Testing and Marshallese Foodways

Historical period

⚠ THIS ROW EXISTS BECAUSE A FOOD SYSTEM WAS DESTROYED BY WEAPONS TESTING AND THE RECORD SHOULD SAY SO PLAINLY. The United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, including CASTLE BRAVO at Bikini in 1954 — the largest US test ever, roughly a thousand times Hiroshima, and far larger than predicted, which spread fallout across inhabited atolls. The documented food consequences: BIKINI and ENEWETAK were evacuated and Bikini remains unsafe to resettle because CAESIUM-137 in the soil enters coconut, pandanus and breadfruit — so the land grows food that cannot be eaten; RONGELAP was contaminated and its people evacuated, resettled, and evacuated again in 1985 by Greenpeace; and the RUNIT DOME on Enewetak, a concrete cap over plutonium-contaminated debris, is cracking and sits at sea level. ⚠ THE RESULT IS DEPENDENCE ON IMPORTED FOOD by necessity rather than preference, and the Marshall Islands carry among the highest recorded rates of diabetes in the world. ⚠ AND THE COMPACT OF FREE ASSOCIATION, which permits Marshallese migration to the United States, is why there are large Marshallese communities in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Hawai‘i. Food insecurity here is a consequence of policy, and this system records it as one.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Marshallese community documented

Languages: Marshallese, English

What is recorded

  • The United States conducted 67 nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, including Castle Bravo at Bikini in 1954, the largest United States test, which was substantially larger than predicted and spread fallout across inhabited atolls. Bikini and Enewetak were evacuated and Bikini remains unsafe for resettlement because caesium-137 in the soil enters coconut, pandanus and breadfruit. Rongelap was contaminated and evacuated, resettled, and evacuated again in 1985. The Runit Dome on Enewetak, capping plutonium-contaminated debris, is documented as cracking and at sea level. Resulting dependence on imported food is recorded, with the Marshall Islands carrying among the highest recorded diabetes rates in the world. documented
  • Sixty-seven United States nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands, including Castle Bravo at Bikini in 1954; Bikini and Enewetak are evacuated and caesium-137 in the soil still enters coconut, pandanus and breadfruit. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • part of Micronesian Foodways documented

    ⚠ A food system destroyed by weapons testing. Caesium-137 in the soil enters coconut, pandanus and breadfruit, so Bikini grows food that cannot be eaten.

  • related to American documented

    67 United States nuclear tests in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, including Castle Bravo. The Compact of Free Association is why large Marshallese communities live in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Hawai‘i.

Recorded as relating to this foodway

Recipes

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