Blue Water by Lindsay Wright

Author:Lindsay Wright [Wright, Lindsay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-7304-9397-6
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2010-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

KAVA CAPER

One of the most illuminating aspects of offshore yacht cruising is the many opportunities that sailors get to be at one with the locals: eat their food, dance their dances, or imbibe their inebriant of choice (not always necessarily in that order). Not to excess, you understand — just enough to foster that warm feeling of mutual admiration that comes from shared experiences.

During the 10 years we spent cruising in our 11.8-metre cutter, Elkouba, we were fortunate enough to sample ouzo in Greece, wine in France, Spain and Portugal, the inexpensive and smooth rums of the Caribbean, beer in Britain, schnapps in Norway, and whisky in Scotland.

So, a few days after dropping our anchor in Suva Harbour and clearing customs, I set out once more to enhance international relations and understanding by sampling kava, the national drink of Fiji. Partaking of this muddy mixture is not just a matter of shouldering your way up to the bar and ordering another round of kava to go. It is a solemn cultural experience and should be undertaken with appropriate respect and decorum.

My first opportunity to partake came at the central produce market in Suva. Downstairs the huge concrete hall is crowded with stalls selling pineapples, coconuts, bananas, papaya, mangoes, vegetables and other exotic Indian and Fijian foodstuffs. Upstairs they really get down to business: stalls up there are stacked with whispery piles of dried kava which the locals call ‘grog’.

Kava is made from the ground-up roots of the pepper tree mixed with water. In ancient times the dried root was chewed to a pulp by the village virgins, then sieved into a large bowl for consumption by the local warriors. With the advent of mechanical grinders (or perhaps because of a shortfall of virgins prepared to masticate pepper roots for hours on end), this practice has diminished. The powdered pepper root can be bought from the market for about $15 Fijian a kilogram, and cruising yachts often carry a stock on board to gift to the chiefs of any villages they visit.

‘Whew … she looks like a pretty powerful brew,’ I observed aloud to a wizened brown stall-keeper, pointing to the equally brown and wizened root stock stacked on his stall.

‘Kava from the island of Kadavu,’ he replied proudly. ‘Best kava in all Fiji.’ ‘Hmmm,’ I countered non-commitedly, ‘but what does it do to you?’

‘You never drink kava before?’ he asked incredulously. ‘Come … sit.’ He patted the wooden bench beside him. With the air of a magician producing a rabbit from a top hat, he then whipped a grubby muslin cloth from beneath the bench and, taking a battered plastic bowl, disappeared downstairs to the communal tap for water.

Shortly he returned, poured some of the gingery powder into the muslin cloth and began to tenderly knead it in the bowl of water. I felt a bead of perspiration trickle slowly down my spine.

‘Drink,’ he ordered, dipping a coconut-shell bowl into the mixture and handing it to me. Advice from my

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