Changing the way we see food and educating ourselves about a healthier diet are fundamental steps to living longer. For far too many generations, Fijians have adopted a very unhealthy way of eating and are now paying the price with sickness unknown generations ago. But it doesn’t have to be this way. A change in diet and lifestyle is one of the most critical challenges facing our nation in the 21st century. To help correct the dietary mistakes of the past, we need to think differently about the food we buy, cook and eat.
PROTECTING OUR OCEAN PHARMACY
In tomorrow’s Christmas Day episode of Exotic Delights, we learn about the natural medicines in our ocean, and how to enjoy them as food more often. Many of us forget that our reefs are a living microcosm of nutritional food, a virtual underwater farm filled with sea life, sea vegetables and sea food. Besides being critically important to fish and a plethora of marine life, coral reefs are sources of life-saving drugs. And while previous thought has pointed to the rainforests of the world for cancer remedies, the coral reefs appear to be even richer sources of compounds. Early civilisations chose to live near the sea in order to obtain sea vegetables not only for food, but also as a medicine. The seas of the world not only supply an abundance of protein sources including fish and crustaceans, but they also supply profoundly beneficial compounds including omega-3 fatty acids and life-saving drugs discovered in sponges, algae and seaweed. But poor environmental practices including excessive carbon emissions are straining the capacity of the world’s oceans to function in a healthy manner and threaten an important source of medicinal foods.
THE POWER OF SEAWEED
Humankind has been eating seaweed since ancient times. Seaweed is loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are uniquely found in the sea and not on land. Nama sea grapes and lumi seaweed are rich in iodine and unique compounds that help protect our body. Seaweed has fueled a new aquaculture industry to farm red seaweed in the Yasawa Islands for their medicinal properties. American biochemists discovered 10 new molecular structures with pharmaceutical potential in a species of red seaweed that lives in the shallow coral reefs on northern Fiji. Some of these natural compounds showed the potential to kill cancer cells, bacteria and the HIV virus, according to research at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US. They say the seaweed likely developed its unique germ-killing compounds to attack its predators and protect itself from disease.
Marine organisms can create molecules and compounds for reproduction, defense, and disease resistance. The unique compounds can deter predators by poisoning them, slowing their growth, sterilising them, or even killing them outright. This may also help researchers find ways to create valuable medicines from the red seaweed and other reef species that may one day help to cure some cancers and HIV/AIDS, explained Georgia Tech biologist Mark Hay back in 2010. In the war against mosquito-borne malaria, researchers have also identified Fiji’s red seaweed as a potential weapon against that global disease. The seaweed produces an antifungal compound, which research is showing can kill the malaria parasite. If the compound proves effective in animal and human studies, it could become the newest weapon against a disease that kills more than a million people a year. Seaweed can be enjoyed raw but is just as nutritious in salads, stir fry and soups.
CLAMS HAVE MORE IRON THAN BEEF
However seaweed is not the only potent seafood we should include in our diets. If you don’t eat red meat, whether by choice or religion, you might be surprised to hear that most species of clams contain more iron than beef. They are also good sources of vitamin B12, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese and selenium — all essential minerals to keep our body and nervous system in optimum health. Clams are considered a lean protein choice because they are low in fat but still pack a lot of protein and iron plus the vitamin C in the clams helps you better absorb the iron. Iron is an integral part of oxygen transport in red blood cells and for the processes in your cells that make energy. Fatigue and anemia can result from low iron diets so if you are not eating high-iron foods like red meat, clams are a great alternative. Clams can be eaten raw, steamed, boiled, baked or fried. Clam chowder is always a popular choice or try a seafood bisque with tomatoes and chilli. They also make great additions to any Italian dish cooked with pasta or risotto. Fresh clams are best bought early in the morning from the markets that are usually brimming with choice of freshwater kai or sea clams like kaikoso. If you are planning on trying my coconut kai chowder, make sure the clam shells have not opened and have been kept out of the sun.
EAT MORE RAW TUNA
Fiji’s yellowfin tuna is one of the best quality, sashimi-grade fish in the world, and is exported to restaurants around the globe. Eating raw tuna is an exotic delight that is not only silky and buttery in texture, but is rich in omega-3 fatty acids; the building blocks of our brain. And in my restaurant there is only one way to eat it — Hawaiian poke style. The fascination with poke (pronounced POH-key) has become a global phenomenon, thanks to hip eateries focused on fresh, healthy fare. It is a raw fish salad or as some have observed, deconstructed sushi in a bowl. Think of the freshest fish, cleanly sliced and glistening in seasonings that range from sweet to salty, nutty to crunchy. In this episode, I happily share my poke dish of mouth-melting yellowfin tuna tossed in finely grated Fijian ginger, gluten free Kikkoman soy, seasoned seaweed, avocado, lumpfish caviar, bonito dried fish flakes and a touch of pungent Chinese sesame oil, sea urchin aioli (cawaki) and toasted sesame seeds. It is one of the only ways I’ll eat fresh yellowfin tuna, other than sashimi.
The Polynesian Hawaiians have long known the pleasures of eating seasoned raw seafood. Back in the day, long before British explorer Captain Cook landed in the islands in the 18th century, native Hawaiians would prepare i’a maka (raw fish), chopping up reef fish, bones and all.
They would season it with sea salt dried in the sun, limu (seaweed), and ‘inamona (roasted and crushed kukui nut, or candlenut). But it wasn’t until the 1970s that the dish really gained popularity with legendary poke chefs like Sam Choy adding their own Asian spin to a Polynesian delicacy.
So as you prepare for a sumptuous Christmas Day feast tomorrow of indulgence and gluttony, remember that over-eating is not the way we should eat all the time. Our regular diet should be rich in diverse and nutritious, fresh foods that feed and nourish us; not make us sick.
? Exotic Delights with Lance Seeto airs every Monday at 7.45pm on FBC TV, or visit him for lunch at Malamala Beach Club.
