December 2021: POLYNESIAN PESCATARIANISM
Unless you neither belong to a Judeo-Christian denomination nor secularly co-opt their holiday traditions of the dining table, December is always the perfect time to commit the sin of gluttony. I do not know about my readers and subscribers, but I always gain weight at the end of the month brought by food gifts of family friends, indulgence of meats and sweets, or curiosity of traveling. For the sake of change, focusing on a lighter fare is a perfect way to stray from the orthodoxy of a decadent December.
My unconventional train of thought brought me to choosing fish-centered dishes. After all, fishes are lean, nutritious, filling, and clean-tasting. Not to mention, I can easily access them, whether they come as fresh live catch from local waters or as frozen imported shipment from countries abroad. Unlike meat and poultry, the variety of fishes grants me a breadth of freedom to play them around in this month’s featured recipes.
Naturally, the general topic of fish cookery needs further narrowing down to a specific ethnicity, so I settled for Polynesian cuisine in this month’s theme for several reasons. First, fishes provide the prominent source of protein in the indigenous Polynesian diet and are thus woven into Pacific Islander culture. Second, the Polynesian triangle has each island nation bear a distinct mélange of local and foreign influences. Third, the marine biodiversity of edible fishes in the tropical Pacific Rim gives the native Polynesian an endless possibility of tasty profiles to choose from. Fourth, living in the Philippines allows me to easily procure the same types of fishes from the local market due to their close evolutionary and taxonomic relationship with the endemic fishes caught from Oceanic waters and thus replicating the authenticity of Polynesian cooking will not be a problem. Fifth, which is the most important, Polynesian gastronomy is often overlooked when its esoteric nature actually warrants a luau of cultural celebration and appreciation for its ethnic expression of warm hospitality and tranquility.
As readers will find from this month’s featured recipes, core to Polynesian cuisine is the sparse use of fat and oil and the incorporation of tropical fruits and vegetables grown on volcanic terrains. The resulting dishes are light, simple, healthy, and delicious in their own right. Forget about overeating this month and consider the idea of vicarious pescatarian dining in a tropical paradise!
