Pascuense cuisine facts for kids

An umu oven cooking meat and vegetables on Easter Island.

Pascuense cuisine, also known as Easter Island cuisine or Rapa Nui cuisine, is the delicious food from Easter Island. It mixes the traditional cooking of the native Rapa Nui people with flavors from Latin America. You'll find lots of fresh seafood like fish, octopus (called heke), eel, sea snails (pipi), and lobster. Other important ingredients include sweet potato, taro, banana, pineapple, coconut, pumpkin, and meats like chicken, pork, and lamb.

One of the most famous traditional ways to cook is called umu. This is an earth oven where meat, fish, vegetables, and fruit are wrapped in banana leaves and roasted on hot stones underground. Another special dish is Po'e, a sweet pudding made from mashed bananas or pumpkin and flour, also baked in the umu. You might also try tunu ahi, which is fish grilled on hot stones, or fresh ceviche. Pascuense food also includes tasty meat dishes like pork or mutton ribs.

The Story of Easter Island Food

Sugarcane growing inside a Manavai, a stone wall that protects plants.

Easter Island was first settled a long, long time ago, between 800 CE and 1200 CE. Brave Polynesian explorers sailed there from other islands in Eastern Polynesia. They brought many plants and animals with them to start new lives.

Some plants, like breadfruit and a certain type of coconut, didn't grow well in Easter Island's climate. But many others did! Important crops that thrived included sweet potato (called kumara in Rapa Nui), taro, yams (uhi), bananas (maika), calabash (hue), ti plants, sugarcane (toa), giant taro (kape), turmeric (pua), arrowroot (pia), and Malay apple (haia). The sweet potato was super important because it grew so well.

The settlers also brought animals like chickens (moa) and rats (kiore). To help their crops grow, especially with the island's strong winds and dry periods, people built circular stone walls called Manavai. These walls protected the plants and helped keep the soil moist.

Bananas growing in the caves of Ana Te Pahu.

Yummy Dishes to Try

Here are some popular dishes you might find on Easter Island:

• Cazuela: This is a hearty soup that came from Chile. The Easter Island version often uses local ingredients like sweet potato and plantain to make it special.
• Ceviche: A super fresh dish made with raw fish! The fish is "cooked" by soaking it in citrus juice, like lime. On Easter Island, tuna is often the favorite fish for ceviche.
• Empanada: These are like tasty baked pastries with fillings inside. On Easter Island, the most popular filling for an empanada is tuna.
• Po'e: A traditional sweet pudding. It's made from mashed foods like banana or taro, wrapped in leaves, and then baked until it's thick and delicious.
• Sopaipilla: This is a type of fried bread. The dough is rolled out, cut into shapes, and then deep-fried until it's puffy and golden.
• Tunu Ahi: This dish is all about fresh fish! It's cooked by grilling it directly on hot rocks, giving it a unique smoky flavor.
• Umu: Also known as Umu pae. This is a very old and traditional way to cook a lot of food at once. Layers of leaves and food are placed on hot rocks in a pit, then covered with soil to slow-cook everything perfectly.