In Pacific Island Kitchens, the Revolution Is Being Televised

The same processed foods that have fed obesity and diabetes in the West have triggered an epidemic of dietary disease in the Pacific Islands. Now, a runaway hit TV show is pointing the way back to the region’s healthy, traditional cuisine. Read more about the Pacific Island Food Revolution: https://asiafoundation.org/2022/02/02/in-pacific-island-kitchens-the-revolution-is-being-televised/

Transcript

Robert Oliver (00:00):

It's so unique and it's so beautifully, profoundly moving on a very deep way. If you're a foodie like me, this is the stuff that you dream of.

John Rieger (00:14):

A cooking competition that's changing diets in the Pacific islands this week on InAsia, from the Asia Foundation. I'm John Rieger.

Tracie Yang (00:21):

And I'm Tracie Yang. The same processed foods that have fed obesity and diabetes in the west have triggered an epidemic of dietary disease in the Pacific islands. Is there a way to get back to the region's healthy traditional cuisine? Our guests today think there is, and it starts with ... wait for it. Reality TV.

John Rieger (00:40):

Joining us now is award-winning chef and cookbook author, Robert Oliver. He's the host and producer of the hit TV show Pacific Island Food Revolution. Also with us is season-two contestant Basil Leodoro of Vanuatu, a surgeon, and the Asia Foundation's own Sandra Kraushaar. Welcome, everybody.

Robert Oliver (00:57):

Thank you, John.

Sandra Kraushaar (00:58):

Thank you.

Basil Leodoro (00:58):

Great to be here.

John Rieger (00:59):

Let's start by getting a little flavor of the show.

Speaker 6 (01:02):

Up next on Pacific Island Food Revolution.

Speaker 7 (01:04):

We are ready to be part of this revolution because we have the woman power.

Speaker 8 (01:09):

You've got one hour and I hope you are ready for this because we are looking for excellence. And I know you guys are going to give me the best today, right? Yes.

John Rieger (01:19):

So, Robert Oliver, tell us about Pacific Island Food Revolution.

Robert Oliver (01:24):

I guess I'll go back to the origin of the show, which is that the health numbers in the Pacific were scary. It was at crisis level with diabetes and heart disease, all due to what people eat. And there'd been a shift away from eating the kind of whole natural foods that are a part of the culture to process foods. I grew up in Fiji and, when I was a kid, there was no diabetes that I remember at all. So the idea with Pacific Island Food Revolution is how do we create a mechanism that revives and restores Pacific food culture back to its gorgeous original self?

John Rieger (02:02):

Well, what is that traditional food culture?

Robert Oliver (02:04):

Generally across the Pacific, there are the same ingredient base, which is the complex carbohydrate root crops, lots and lots of greens, lots of fruit, beautiful seafood, lots of seaweeds, many, many different uses of coconut, but each culture is different. The cuisine is the cultural interpretation of those ingredients. I mean, Vanuatu in particular I think has just this hidden treasure that once the world knows about it, they're all going to want to try it because it's so unique and it's so beautifully, profoundly moving on a very deep way. If you're a foodie like me, this is the stuff that you dream of.

John Rieger (02:45):

Now, the show involves pairs of contestants from several Pacific island nations.

Robert Oliver (02:50):

Yeah. So, we film in Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, the kingdom of Tonga. We do episodes in each country that address Pacific health issues in each country. There's a winning team from each country and they all come together to Fiji. We have the finals and that's when it really gets hot in the kitchen. Almost like a sport. And we have the big themes there. The regional themes, climate change and food, biodiversity and food, what do babies eat? And people cook a solution.

John Rieger (03:17):

We've watched a couple of episodes here and the show is lovely. The recipes are great and there's a lot of gentle humor among the contestants.

Robert Oliver (03:25):

There's so much humor and that's just very much the Pacific way. It's a fun show. It's a joyful way to enact food sovereignty. This is coming from the people themselves, largely young people, who were able to reclaim Pacific food culture right there in front of the whole Pacific.

Tracie Yang (03:45):

So, Basil Leodoro, you and your wife, Annette, who is also a physician, were contestants on the show. Here's a little bit of you.

Basil Leodoro (03:56):

I'm Basil.

Annette (03:56):

I'm Annette. And we are the Foodie Doctors.

Annette (03:59):

When we are not working, we enjoy our quiet time. Usually, Basil, that's cooking.

Basil Leodoro (04:05):

We like to laugh at ourselves and we don't have any problem with people laughing at us. That's what food culture in the Pacific is all about. It's about laughter and love and having fun, so the Foodie Doctors are ready to bring that to the Food Revolution.

Tracie Yang (04:19):

So, Basil, what was it like being on the show?

Basil Leodoro (04:22):

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. My partner and I, Annette, we didn't think we'd ever make it on a show, but then a Pacific Island Food Revolution producer turned up and things got a bit serious and we thought, "All right, what's our message that we are wanting to get across on the show?" And Robert summarizes it quite well in saying that it's cooking up a solution. In 1985, you wouldn't have heard of diabetes in the hospital, let alone in the rural communities. Today, we have clinics running every day of the week, and looking back on our data in the hospital, we amputated two lower limbs because of diabetic food sepsis. Two every week. And that scared us, that we are seeing these numbers. And we thought, "What a great way to target the next generation." As Robert said, you've got young people on the Pacific Island Food Revolution show, but we are also targeting the young viewers who are watching around the Pacific. So, the humor gets in there. We try and keep it fun.

Tracie Yang (05:24):

Yeah. I love it. In the show, you guys refer to each other as the Foodie Doctors, which is great. A lot of times when I think of doctors, they're the ones who are making me go on diets, but you guys are melding those two. You're like, "No, you can be healthy and love food. We're Foodie Doctors."

Basil Leodoro (05:42):

Well, that's what we said in our application. If you're looking at long-term behavior change, the best way to do that is to get out there, to demonstrate it, to show them what you're talking about. So, I was really happy for the foodie docs to bring that to the show.

Tracie Yang (05:57):

Yeah. And now after your appearance, you were actually inspired to do more and you and your wife founded SANMA Food Revolution. Can you talk about that more?

Basil Leodoro (06:08):

Yes. Well, actually, the kingpin in the SANMA Food Revolution is actually one of the other participants on the show. Her name is Primrose Siri, and she was one of the members of the Kitchen Kweens. And if you watch the show, there's a few parts in there where I'm looking across over to their table and smelling the delicious food that's coming across and wondering, "I don't know what I'm doing here, but I really like that table over there." So, I teamed up with Primrose, and together, we came up with this idea, and Robert and the team at the Pacific Island Food Revolution were able to partner us up with the Asia Foundation and it all blew up from there. And we are having a whale of a time just getting out into communities.

Basil Leodoro (06:53):

Primrose is out there creating these recipes for the communities themselves and our mothers are selling their recipes on the roadside. Now they're advertising using the recipes that they learned from the Pacific Island Food Revolution. And that's all thanks to the inspiration and the support from Robert and the Pacific Island Food Revolution. And also from Sandra and the team at the Asia Foundation.

John Rieger (07:15):

Why don't we get Sandra in here? Sandra Kraushaar, you are the Asia Foundation's country representative in the Pacific islands. Tell us a little bit more about the foundation's role in this project.

Sandra Kraushaar (07:26):

Well, from the beginning of our conversations with the Pacific Island Food Revolution, it quickly turned into a collaboration about Pacific solutions for Pacific challenges. And we are working with them on developing the solutions incubator where some of these ideas could actually come up and we could work together on supporting these local initiatives. For the SANMA Food Revolution, our first pilot for the solutions incubator, Dr. Basil and Primrose are delivering this fantastic cooking roadshow using local foods and health messaging. And it also involves the local communities who are contributing with local fruit and vegetables. The local governments are also supplying venues for the events to take place. So, everyone brings something to this. It's a full-on collaboration.

Tracie Yang (08:20):

So, Robert, what you're referring to, eating locally or being a locavore really reminds me of like the farm to table movement in the United States, which is really wonderful, but it often requires quite a big pocketbook. Is that an obstacle in the Pacific islands?

Robert Oliver (08:39):

Not really because local vegetables are still cheap. Wouldn't you agree, Basil, that the local produce is still very affordable?

Basil Leodoro (08:46):

Absolutely, Robert. I think that people will be heading back into the backyard to grow some of their crops because of the SAMNA Food Revolution teams going out. So, in doing so, they're going to be encouraging the farmers and everybody else to produce more. And we're going to see, I hope, the prices either remain the same or get even more cheaper.

John Rieger (09:08):

You guys certainly exude optimism.

Robert Oliver (09:10):

Yeah. Well, I got to tell you, this is fun. This is really a celebration of Pacific culture and identity, and what we have is a lot of evidence of success. We found, for example, that on an average across the Pacific, 83% of people are watching Pacific Island Food Revolution. A lot of data where people are saying they now view their local food as sexy and trendy, rather than something that maybe they looked down upon before. And Tonga was incredible. First of all, we had a lot of trouble finding people who weren't watching Pacific Island Food Revolution. But the difference between the two was that the people who were watching were three times more likely to make local, healthy food choices. So, we feel like we've just begun. We want to form other local food revolutions and keep going. This is something that has not been tried. It's clearly working. Let's keep going.

John Rieger (10:05):

Robert Oliver, Basil Leodoro, and Sandra Kraushaar. Thank you for joining us.

Robert Oliver (10:09):

Thank you so much.

Sandra Kraushaar (10:09):

Thank you

Basil Leodoro (10:09):

Thank you so much.

Tracie Yang (10:11):

And that's our show for this week. You have to try some of these recipes and you can by following the link which we have cunningly placed at the end of this week's essay about the Pacific Island Food Revolution.

John Rieger (10:21):

And while you're there, make another healthy lifestyle choice and subscribe to the InAsia podcast.

Tracie Yang (10:28):

That's all from us. Until next time, I'm Tracie Yang.

John Rieger (10:30):

And I'm John Rieger.

Tracie Yang (10:31):

Thanks for listening.