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Micronesian Foodways

Regional

⚠ "SMALL ISLANDS" IS WHAT THE NAME MEANS, AND THE SCALE IS THE FOOD STORY. Micronesia is some two thousand islands across an expanse of ocean wider than the continental United States, with a total land area smaller than Rhode Island. ⚠ AND THE DISTINCTION THAT ORGANISES EVERYTHING IS ATOLL versus HIGH ISLAND: a volcanic high island — Pohnpei, Kosrae, Guam, Babeldaob — has streams, soil and slopes and can grow taro, yam, banana and kava; a coral ATOLL has no fresh surface water, a thin alkaline soil and a metre or two of elevation, and can support coconut, pandanus, breadfruit, swamp taro in dug pits, and fish. Those are two different food systems and the specifications are right to insist on it. The nations: the FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA (Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, Kosrae), the MARSHALL ISLANDS, PALAU, KIRIBATI, NAURU, and the US territories of GUAM and the NORTHERN MARIANAS. FERMENTATION and pit preservation of breadfruit are the traditional insurance against typhoon and drought. ⚠ THE COLONIAL SEQUENCE WAS SPANISH, THEN GERMAN, THEN JAPANESE, THEN AMERICAN within one lifetime, and each left food in its wake — which is why soy sauce, sashimi and Japanese loanwords sit beside Spanish-derived dishes and American tinned goods.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Micronesians community documented
  • Chamorros community documented
  • Marshallese community documented
  • I-Kiribati community documented

Languages: Chuukese, Pohnpeian, Kosraean, Yapese, Marshallese, Palauan, Gilbertese, Nauru, Chamorro, English, Japanese

What is recorded

  • Micronesia comprises approximately two thousand islands across an ocean area wider than the continental United States with a total land area smaller than Rhode Island. The distinction between volcanic high islands and coral atolls is recorded as organising the region’s food systems: high islands have streams, soil and slopes supporting taro, yam, banana and kava, while atolls have no fresh surface water and support coconut, pandanus, breadfruit, pit-grown swamp taro and fish. Fermentation and pit preservation of breadfruit are documented as insurance against typhoon and drought. The colonial sequence was Spanish, German, Japanese and American. documented

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Regional cuisines

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