The Pacific Island Food Revolution has launched a cookbook in addition to its global TV series at EDEN restaurant in Samabula on Wednesday night.
“Eat Pacific” cookbook is compiled by the award-winning chef and TV host for the Pacific Island Food Revolution show Robert Oliver.
Its foreword is written by The Princess Royal of Tonga, Her Royal Highness Princess Salote Mafile’o Pilolevu Tuita, who wrote: “We are admired around the globe for our pristine region and the bountiful harvests that our forebears cherished and sustained. I urge you all to take this to heart, to protect the produce of our land and sea that is our inheritance.”
Featuring vibrant recipes from Fiji and various islands across the Pacific region, the over 400-page recipe book is said to be inspired by the popular TV series, which is now in its third season. In his speech, Mr Oliver highlighted the importance of Pacific island food and its inspiration to releasing the cookbook.
“The whole point of all this is that Pacific food has enormous potential. Think of Thailand and places like that where the food runs everything; it runs the economy, it runs the identity of the nation, and it goes from the five-star restaurants to the street foods. That is the opportunity I see in the Pacific,” Mr Oliver said.
Deputy speaker of Parliament, Lenora Qereqeretabua, acknowledged the work done by Mr Oliver.
“The cookbook is a continuation of the popular TV series, when it first hit our screens, my heart swelled with pride that our food was being showcased by our own people on international television,” she said.
“The cooking challenges were based on issues faced in the region at that time and indeed continue to face today.
“It fights the scourge of non-communicable diseases as we replace our traditional foods with processed foods,” Ms Qereqeretabua said
She said it was only a matter of time when Pacific people became victims of the deluge in processed foods.
Copies of the cookbook are now available at Baka Bookstore on McGregor Road in Suva.
It will soon be available also at the University of the South Pacific Bookshop.
