Eat Like the Animals by David Raubenheimer;Stephen Simpson;

Author:David Raubenheimer;Stephen Simpson;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company

Two months later, I was on a small island in the Pacific Ocean witnessing my worst fear coming true. Together with my friends and colleagues, Olivier Galy, of the University of New Caledonia, and Corinne Caillaud, at the University of Sydney, I had traveled to Lifou, one of the Loyalty Islands situated off the east coast of the New Caledonia mainland. We had come to stay with a tribal family, the Zongos, and to experience directly the traditional family lifestyle and food system. But we were there mainly to examine a threat that was beginning to unravel that lifestyle, destroy the food system, and threaten the pristine island environment.

We stepped out of our rental car into the tropical paradise that is the Zongos’ home. Greeted by their ebullient dog, contorting with excitement, I looked across the lush green lawn past the tropical fruit trees to a simple and welcoming house clad in fresh turquoise corrugated-iron sheets. On the veranda stood a well-built and handsome couple in their sixties, radiating health and happiness. They were Pierre and Naomi Zongo, our hosts.

We were first shown to our lodgings, a traditional round, thatched house. Inside the low doorway was a single space set around a large and majestic wooden pillar supporting a whorl of rafters hewn from logs. These were connected by a meshwork of stick purlins, creating a firm, umbrella-like structure supporting the thatched roof. Beneath that was a low circular wall, constructed in much the same way as the roof, with the thatch draped like a neatly cut blanket from the apex to the ground.

The inside was blackened by soot, accumulated over years of burning fires in the hearth beside the central pillar, and the air carried an earthy patina of fire, earth, and wood, not unlike a Scottish single malt whisky. On the floor, in beautiful contrast with the organically darkened walls and roof, were colorful woven mats on which our mattresses were placed. These houses, which are built by tribespeople, are reserved for special occasions, such as tribal meetings. I felt privileged to be there.

The following morning, we ate a breakfast of freshly made yogurt, with honey, papaya, and grated coconut picked from a tree nearby, and then traveled to the family gardens. We dug yams and potatoes from the rich brown soil, picked a variety of fresh vegetables, herbs, and tropical fruit from the large garden, and snacked on wild fruit and ruby red baby tomatoes that grew like weeds among the vegetable patches. We learned how Naomi and Pierre use a barrier of sharp-edged ground coral, like the white marking lines on a sports field, to protect their crops from slugs, and how plastic soda bottles placed on the metal fence posts surrounding the garden create a rattling sound that deters wild pigs.

We returned to feast on a lunch of bounga, a delicious Kanak dish made from local ingredients including yams, sweet potatoes, plantains, coconut milk, and fresh fish, all wrapped in a large envelope of banana

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