Catering the Pacific

It's been a few years since I was last able to attend the Pasifika festival in Auckland. It has grown and yet somehow diminished. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a fabulous event, but the market stalls are less genuine, and there are less of them. There are too many branded stalls, and food retailers/chains with a stall. Speaking to the husband of a friend, with involvement in the Cook Island Maori community, it sounds like Pasifika has outgrown itself. It's popularity and tourism potential have lead to the stalls becoming too expensive for a couple of old women from Mangere to have a stall selling tivaivai or tapa. When I last went, in 2007, there was stall after stall overflowing with tapa, and dotted around would be some bloke with a chilly bin filled with coconuts, a machete and a bundle of straws. This year? no chilled coconut drinks and I could only find one stall selling a few small tapa and various items made from tapa. I fear that it has become less a celebration of Pacific Island culture and more a tourist event.

But I did like these tent kitchens all in a row behind the stalls. The food at Pasifika will always be unchanged: chop suey, pork, chicken, half a pineapple filled with ice-cream...