Fijian food is the Pacific and India on one plate, because half the country came from India to work the sugar, and the mix is one of the easier cuisines for a child in the region.
Kokoda is the national dish. Raw fish cured in lime and coconut cream with tomato, onion and chili, served in a coconut shell. It is Fiji’s ceviche and it is mild and creamy and the adults order it every night. Children who like fish will try it. The rest have the grilled fish.
The lovo is the feast. A pit in the sand, hot stones, and whole chickens, fish, pork and root vegetables wrapped in banana leaves and buried for hours. Every resort does a lovo night with a meke after, and the village visit does the real one. The kids watch it come out of the ground and eat the chicken.
The Indian half and the everyday
Roti with curry is lunch across the country. Chicken curry, dhal, a paratha, from a roadside shop in Nadi for pocket change. It is the Fijian Indian food and it is where the flavor is. The resorts do it too, mildly.
Cassava and taro are the root vegetables that come with everything, boiled or fried like chips. Palusami is taro leaves cooked in coconut cream, the green the kids will not eat and should try once. Fresh fish every day, walu, mahi mahi, on the grill with a lime.
Fruit is the beach. Papaya, pineapple, mango, banana, and a young coconut with a straw opened by the man at the beach with a machete. Fiji Bitter for the adults at sunset. Fiji Water, which is from here, and the tap water at the resorts is fine. Then the kokoda again, because it was that good.
Planning Fiji with kids? Start with the full Fiji family travel guide, or send me the ages and the dates and I will come back with what is really available.
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