Tongan Cuisine

Tongan cuisine is the wholesome, earthy food of Polynesia, drawn from the land and the sea and built on root crops, coconut, pork and fish. Its centrepiece is the umu, the underground oven of hot stones on which food is slow-cooked, most cherished for the great Sunday feast after church. The beloved dish is lu, taro leaves wrapped around meat, corned beef or fish with coconut cream and baked until tender, similar to the palusami of the region. Alongside come ota ika, fresh raw fish marinated in coconut cream and lime, roasted suckling pig, taro, cassava, yam and breadfruit, and an abundance of tropical fruit.

What you actually see

• The umu feast - the food slow-cooked on hot stones.
• Lu - the taro leaves baked with meat and coconut cream.
• Ota ika - the fresh raw fish in coconut cream and lime.
• The root crops and pork - the taro, yam and roasted pig.

When to go

Year-round; the great Sunday umu feast after church is the heart of Tongan food culture, and hotels and cultural shows often lay on a feast with traditional dance. The markets, especially Talamahu in the capital, are the place to see the island's abundant root crops, fruit and fresh fish any day of the week.

Honest expectations

Tongan food is simple, starchy and coconut-rich rather than varied or spiced, so its appeal is wholesome, earthy island cooking and the communal umu feast tradition rather than culinary complexity, and everyday eating can lean on imported and processed foods; portions are famously large. Shared at a Sunday umu feast, though, with lu, fresh ota ika and roasted pork, it is a genuine and generous taste of Polynesian tradition and Tongan hospitality.

Nearby

The Talamahu market in Nuku'alofa and the island feasts are the places.