Foie gras. Escargots. Steak frites. Visit French Polynesia and you’d be forgiven for forgetting that you’re in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, nearly 26,000km away from Paris. An overseas country of France, the Islands of Tahiti, as French Polynesia is sometimes known, continue to feel an outsize influence from abroad. Even the price of baguettes is controlled by the government, set to roughly 50 Pacific francs.
But in recent years, young Tahitians have been reclaiming their heritage, putting traditional ingredients like lagoon fish, taro leaf and star apple on the menu, and making them more accessible to their community – as well as tourists.
One such person is Heimata Hall, Moorea-born chef and the founder of Tahiti Food Tours. After spending five years in Honolulu working with the now-closed Town restaurant’s Ed Kenney, a leader of the Polynesian farm-to-table food movement, Hall returned to his community with a similar “local first” ethos. He wanted to show travellers bite-by-bite how his homeland’s bounty has more to offer than imported duck confit and how it bears the mark of two other prominent cultures: Native Tahitians and the Chinese who, brought here to work on coffee and sugar plantations in the 1860s, now make up the third largest population on the islands.
“A lot of times when people come to Tahiti, they get stuck going to the same mainstream restaurants,” said Hall. “We went stagnant for a while, and it was really French cuisine that took the upper hand. I realised, ‘Man, there’s all these other little [Tahitian] mom-and-pop snack shops where we as locals eat, and tourists aren’t tapping into that.’ These places use incredibly diverse ingredients, especially from the sea. Most visitors don’t even know that they exist.”
On a typical afternoon with Hall, you might stop on the side of the road to buy ripe soursop or some crunchy mango with plum powder, as sweet as it is tart. Next, it’s on to a roulotte (food truck) or snack (a casual canteen best known for big portions and small prices) for lunch, where you can order a Tahitian or Chinese fusion meal like poisson cru (recently caught, raw parrot fish with creamy, rich coconut milk), ma’a tinito (fatty pork belly with starchy red beans and vermicelli), or – a crowd favourite – chow mein sandwich (exactly what it sounds like, yet more delicious than you could ever imagine).
According to Hall, these modest, “quick service” spots, including Snack Rotui and Snack Mahana, are gradually becoming easier to find, thanks to their good value, high quality and a demand for authenticity from residents and tourists alike.
Alexandrine Wan, Tahiti-born CEO of French Polynesia tour company Nani Travels, has also discovered a rise in guests looking for meaningful travel. When it comes to Tahitian dishes, she said, “It’s always a matter of remembering to respect what you’re eating. We work closely with the land and the ocean to get our food.” Don’t be surprised if the prawns you’re dining on were plucked from the water a couple hours ago or that your mango is fresh off a tree.
Cooking on the Islands of Tahiti is an equally thoughtful process. Two of the most beloved Tahitian dishes, fafaru (a notoriously pungent fermented fish eaten with fermented coconut) and ahima’a (a cooking method named after the ground oven used to slow bake everything from wild pig to chicken) require little more than patience and time.
While celebrating the land and returning to Tahiti’s roots has become part of the country’s culinary present, many of its youngest chefs are imagining how they can carry these traditions into the future. Hall first recalls noticing this movement at Teao Maiarii’s Maru Maru, a fine dining restaurant in the capital of Papeete that pays tribute to Tahiti’s deep terroir.
“I think it’s very important to put our Polynesian cuisine and products forward, making them more accessible,” said Chavez. “Kozy was opened with a very specific idea – to serve fresh local products such as breadfruit, mountain plantain, sweet potato, fish, local freshwater prawns and taro root, with French cooking skills to enhance them.” At Kozy, Chavez fuses and builds off the islands’ three major cultures with dishes like taro root risotto and ava ava (“sour” in Tahitian) raw fish that recalls her childhood spent in the Tuamotu archipelago. “It’s a very tangy tuna-based dish seasoned with a secret sauce, ginger and mint that I gave a twist to.”
Meanwhile, at Hei, guests settle in for a decadent prix fixe meal featuring courses like candied pineapple with honey and Tahitian vanilla and a fillet crusted in panko and breadfruit. Currently, Hoiore is dreaming of how he can feasibly add an ahima’a to the restaurant for Sunday dinners.
Chavez, Hoiore and many other chefs from this generation have another thing in common: a large percentage attended culinary school and worked at top restaurants in France (a tempting proposition when you hold a French passport). Now, more than ever before, ambitious young Tahitian chefs – perhaps empowered by those who came before – are putting in their hours training in prestigious kitchens halfway around the world, planning to return with contemporary techniques and knowledge to open their own restaurants.
“Why, when I go to a fancy restaurant, is it so hard to get fancy Tahitian food?” asked Mahana Nordquist, a Tahitian chef currently working at Le Lauracée, one of the top restaurants in Marseille. “You can’t truly know Tahitians if you don’t know their food. I think it’s good to go back to our roots. I can’t open a restaurant now – I have to prepare and find myself first. But when I do, I hope to achieve that vision.”
Hall, who champions Nordquist and other Tahitian chefs who are starting out, is optimistic about the future of his native cuisine.
“Not that we need Michelin stars, but I hope it gets to a point where our food is recognised worldwide and people will want to come here for it. I do think it’s going to evolve a lot in the next 10 years. For me personally, this is very exciting, because we’re slowly creating a new version of Tahitian cuisine with these local chefs that have gone to France and been properly trained and come back saying, ‘How can I make this traditional dish into today’s gastronomy?’.”
As for himself, Hall hopes to continue to educate visitors through Tahiti Food Tours and spread the word about French Polynesia’s top local talent. Perhaps soon he will get back in the kitchen himself – after all, it’s the perfect time.
“We are finally getting the opportunity to create our own food identity. We have a blank canvas – and we are making our own painting.”
Tahitian poisson cru tacos
By Heimata Hall
Poisson cru tacos combine the fresh products and flavours of the Tahitian islands with a Mexican twist. Use locally sourced fish and tropical ingredients like coconut milk and mango or papaya to be transported to the Islands of Tahiti.
Serves 4
Method
Step 1
To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix until creamy and refrigerate. You can adjust the sauce to your liking by adding more hot sauce.
Step 2
Combine the fish, avocado, papaya, onion and garlic in a mixing bowl and stir in the oil and lime juice. Season with sea salt. Refrigerate while you cook the corn tortillas.
Step 3
Heat up corn tortillas in a hot pan by turning every few seconds until cooked to your liking. You may also fry the tortillas in hot oil to make them crispy, and eat the poisson cru like a tostada or crispy taco. (It adds a nice crunchy texture.)
Step 4
After the tortillas are cooked, place 2 tortillas per plate and add 1½ tbsp of poisson cru mixture per taco. Garnish with coriander, pickled cabbage (if using), radishes and drizzle or spoon over fresh coconut milk (if using), as well as the sauce to tie all the flavours together.
“Tama’a maitai” as we say in Tahiti, which means “bon appetit” in French and “eat well” in English. Enjoy these delicious Tahitian poisson cru tacos, and dream of your next vacation in our beautiful islands with every bite.
