How the Islands of Tahiti are reclaiming their cuisine

While celebrating the land and returning to Tahiti’s roots has become part of the country’s culinary present, many of its youngest chefs are imagining how they can carry these traditions into the future. Hall first recalls noticing this movement at Teao Maiarii’s Maru Maru, a fine dining restaurant in the capital of Papeete that pays tribute to Tahiti’s deep terroir.

ChefsdeTahiti

“My first time eating there, I felt like I was reliving my childhood,” said Hall. “It became emotional to see him cook with these local flavours and ingredients in a new, gastronomic way. Teao made a gnocchi-style breadfruit with a fish called oeo [trumpet emperor] that you usually don’t see on the menu, because we’re using tuna for everything now. He served super thin slices of uto [coconut sponge] with another fish, ouma, that I used to catch with my grandpa. I thought, ‘This guy gets it.’ It brought back so many good memories. What is Tahitian food today? It’s taking ownership, finally, of our cuisine, our culture, our identity, and not having somebody else represent us anymore.”

“What is Tahitian food today? It’s taking ownership, finally, of our cuisine, our culture, our identity, and not having somebody else represent us anymore.”

Maru Maru isn’t the only restaurant at the intersection of home cooking and creative fusion. Heiarii Hoiore of Hei and Kirahu Chavez of Kozy are just two other local chefs who have discovered success through this evolving vision of Tahitian cuisine.

“I think it’s very important to put our Polynesian cuisine and products forward, making them more accessible,” said Chavez. “Kozy was opened with a very specific idea – to serve fresh local products such as breadfruit, mountain plantain, sweet potato, fish, local freshwater prawns and taro root, with French cooking skills to enhance them.” At Kozy, Chavez fuses and builds off the islands’ three major cultures with dishes like taro root risotto and ava ava (“sour” in Tahitian) raw fish that recalls her childhood spent in the Tuamotu archipelago. “It’s a very tangy tuna-based dish seasoned with a secret sauce, ginger and mint that I gave a twist to.”