” The variety prepared in earthen clay pot is called kakasi. It is a favourite often prepared for first time visitors or high end guests.
These days however, you can ask and have a kakasi done for you.
The kakasi feeds and is shared by more people as it comes in larger quantities the shape of dumplings fitted into a clay pot. The kakasi also keeps better overnight.”
From the Uruna Bay Resort, Pokpok Island Tours and Accommodation
Tama(tama) is the value-added product of 4-5 varieties of cooking bananas, pick of the best taros and white and yellow cassavas prepared in hot coconut oil by gentle hands.
Women collect the best mature coconuts from marked trees they and those before them have been selectively using for the best coconut oils. If they are from the one tree the end quality and taste is even better.
These (in the photo) long sausage-like shapes stirred hand cooked in virgin oil on selected banana leaves is called toronisi. A toronisi can also be a flat flour bun shape prepared in similar fashion in hot virgin oil on banana leaves.
How much of it should you eat? Tama(tama) and kakasi are best eaten on their own in moderate quantities. Eat too much and it can be too filling and get in the way of appetite and desire for the main dish. That is why it is best taken on its own as a culinary delight in its own right. In a way, in the annals of healthy eating advice it’s like saying protein and carbs and starchy foods do not mix very well.
But these days, especially at feasts or at receptions with varieties of other tuckers that come in all descriptions, shapes, tastes, sizes and colours it is the eyes that do most of the eating. The idea of proper food combination becomes merely a hand-to-mouth delight.
The tama(tama) has been thrown into the mix and fray when in fact it is a vegetarian dish that can best delight and be best enjoyed and satisfy any palate on its own.
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