Pulaka facts for kids

Pulaka, also known as Cyrtosperma merkusii or swamp taro, is a special plant grown mostly in Tuvalu. It's a very important food for the people living there, giving them lots of carbohydrates for energy. It's a "swamp crop," meaning it grows in wet, muddy places, much like taro. However, pulaka has bigger leaves and larger, tougher roots.

This same plant has different names across the Pacific. It's called pulaka in Niue, babai in Kiribati, puraka in the Cook Islands, pula’a in Samoa, via kan in Fiji, Pulaka in Tokelau, simiden in Chuuk, swamp taro in Papua New Guinea, and navia in Vanuatu.

The roots of pulaka need to be cooked for many hours. This is because the main part of the plant, called the corm, has natural substances that can be irritating if eaten raw. But once cooked, pulaka is full of good nutrients, especially calcium, which helps build strong bones. Pulaka is a big part of Tuvalu's culture and food traditions. Sadly, its future is at risk from rising sea levels and people eating more imported foods instead.

How Pulaka Grows

Pulaka plants are grown in special pits that families dig into the limestone ground of the atolls. To help the plants grow strong, people add leaves from different plants as natural fertilizer. The pulaka plants get their water from a "freshwater lens" which is a layer of fresh water found a few meters below the atoll's surface.

Because of this, rising sea levels, caused by global warming, are a big problem for pulaka farms. When the sea rises, salt water can seep into the pits. Pulaka plants don't like salt water; it can rot their roots, turn their leaves yellow, and stop them from growing properly. These salty water floods happen more often now as high tides get higher. To protect their plants, some islanders have started lining their pulaka pits with cement.

Preparing and Storing Pulaka

Pulaka is a main food in the traditional diet of the islanders, often eaten with fish. Since the raw corms are not safe to eat, they must always be cooked. This is usually done in an earth oven, which is a pit dug in the ground where food is cooked with hot stones. Many recipes add coconut cream or toddy (a sweet drink from coconut trees), or both.

On the island of Niutao, people pour coconut cream (called lolo) over mashed pulaka to make a dish called tulolo. A similar dish on Nukufetau, made with pulaka halves, is called tulolo pulaka. If the pulaka is mashed, the dish is called fakapapa.

Another popular dish, Fekei, is made on all the islands. Women usually grate the pulaka using a piece of limestone with holes in it. The grated pulaka is then wrapped in pulaka leaves and steamed. After steaming, it's mixed with coconut cream.

Keeping food fresh on the islands is hard because of the hot weather. Pulaka is often stored by burying it in the ground, where it can stay good for up to three months. Cooks also slice baked pulaka corms and dry them in the sun for about six days. These dried slices, called pulaka valuvalu, are then packed into coconut containers and hung from roof beams. They can last for up to seven years! This dried pulaka can be cooked with coconut cream and water to make a dish called likoliko. On Nukufetao, puatolo is a dish made from grated pulaka and toddy, baked in an oven. If dried in the sun, it can be stored for three months.

Pulaka's Cultural Importance

The pulaka pits are dug and cared for by families over many generations. This makes them very important for family identity, cultural pride, and even survival. When salt water gets into the pulaka pits, it doesn't just threaten the plants; it threatens the future of the people of Tuvalu. Also, the special knowledge of how to grow pulaka is often passed down from fathers to sons. When a father teaches his son about planting pulaka, it's seen as teaching him "how to live like a man."

Besides rising salt water levels, changes in how people live and eat also threaten pulaka farming. This started during and after World War II, when American soldiers brought imported foods to the islands. Many pulaka pits were no longer cared for. Imported foods often have a lot of sugar, which has led to more dental problems and diabetes among the islanders.

Images for kids

• Pulaka.jpg

  Pulaka growing in a pit