Planning diet for Pacific Islanders

New islanders who arrived around 3000 B.C. are believed to have introduced agriculture to the Pacific region. Bringing with them seeds and livestock from the Asian mainland, they planted and harvested crops and bred animals. They introduced foods including bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes, yams, and breadfruit. The animals they brought with them included dogs, chickens, and pigs. 

Explorers from Europe in the 1500s brought more new foods to the islands. These included carrots, potatoes, turnips, beef cattle, and sheep. It took a long time until the Western world showed serious interest in the Pacific Islands. By 1900, however, the United States, France, Germany, and Britain all claimed control of islands in the Pacific. Over time, they made a lasting impact on the food customs of the islands they controlled. Cooking styles on the island of Tahiti, for example, continue to reflect a strong French influence.

The coconut, a common fruit grown in tropical regions, is a main dietary staple. Nearly all of the Pacific islanders use coconut milk as their main cooking ingredient. The starchy fruit of the breadfruit tree is another Pacific island staple. When it is cooked, it has a texture like bread (which is how the tree got its name). It can be peeled and eaten whole or mashed into a paste that is dipped into warm coconut milk.

The most commonly used spice in the Pacific islands is soy sauce. Gallon containers of it can be found in many households.

Seafood, particularly fish, has long been the primary dietary staple and source of protein for Pacific Islanders. Nearly 300 varieties of fish are found in the waters of Polynesia alone. Fish is typically eaten raw, poached, or grilled. Root vegetables and tubers, such as taro (also known as a cocoyam), sweet potatoes, and yams, are also central to the diet of the region. A wide variety of tropical fruits are also eaten in large quantities. These include bananas, plantains (similar bananas), mangoes, papayas, and pineapples. 

Common food choices associated within cultural group.

Grain group: rice and wheat products.

Vegetable group: arrowroot, bitter melon, burdock root, cabbage, carrot, cassava, daikon, eggplant, ferms, green peppers, horseradish, jute, kohlrabi, leeks lotus root, mustard greens, green onions, seaweed, spinach, squashes, sweet potato, taro, water chestnuts, yams.

Fruit group: acerola cherries, apples, apricot, avocado, banana, breadfruit, coconut, guava, jackfruit, kumquat, litchis, loquat, mango, melons, papaya, passion fruit, peach, pear, pineapple, plum, prune, strawberries, tamarind.

Milk, yogurt and cheese group: very little, if any, consumption.

Meat, fish, eggs and nuts group: beef, pork, chicken, duck, squab, turkey; a variety of fish, shellfish and legumes.

Fats and sweets group: butter, coconut oil, lard, sesame oil, vegetable oil; sugar.