February 18th, 2020 – Lakatoro

…make peanut butter!

Continuing my efforts to only eat produce made in Vanuatu, I shelled some raw peanuts, roasted them in the oven, and crushed them with my blender.

I took most of the advice from the internet of how to do it, but I think there maybe a problem with the variety of peanut used. The peanuts don’t even taste like peanuts, they’re more like dried peas. Putting them in the oven and then blending just resulted in roasted and mashed dried peas. They didn’t seem to have a very high oil content, so while the internet said you don’t have to add oil, the peanuts will contain enough, that definitely was not the case with these ones, and to get them to blend properly I had to add about three quarters of a cup of coconut oil. The final nut butter doesn’t taste unpleasant, but tastes more like a pea and coconut paste than peanut butter.

In other culinary feats, tonight I made myself a tomato and spring onion curry, served on a bed of mashed kumala (the Vanuatu name for kumera).

Today started out quite badly, with my counterpart Kevin dumping some pretty dissatisfying work (work that isn’t part of my assignment, and that he could’ve done himself, but clearly didn’t want to) on my desk, and then disappearing for much of the day.

But the free time (I did a rush job of the work he left me, on the basis that if you do a job badly enough, you don’t get asked to do it again) allowed me to meet with the council president – a francophone ni-Vanuatu guy. He has a name, but everyone just calls him Pres. He is very charismatic, apparently a shrewd businessman, and compared to everyone else I’ve met here seems to have a much more Western mentality. He was educated in Nouméa, and his French education visibly outstrips that of his fellow countrymen.

Speaking of charismatic elected officials, here in Vanuatu we are in prime campaign mode for the forthcoming national elections on March 17th. Coincidentally, I think this is when the mayoral elections for Cotignac are happening. The same type of campaigning for both locations (Cotignac and Vanuatu) is creating an election buzz on my Facebook page, and amusingly, the same cynical remarks from the locals (e.g. the only reason the water system is working this month is because elections are next month, etc…). Down by the market today, Ralph Regenvanu, a longstanding ni-Vanuatu MP was campaigning with a loudspeaker. Those of you back in Cotignac who watched my pre-departure presentation may remember him from the video clip I played. I think he sounds very convincing, but word on the street is that he is all talk, and he hasn’t been able to resolve the problems he initially set out to, despite two terms in office already.

The day ended better than it had begun, with Kevin returning, apologising profusely for his sudden departure, and explaining there had been a death in his wife’s family (his nephew-in-law). Only 19 years old, apparently. Tragic, and the family still very unclear as to the precise circumstances surrounding the death. Kevin was very keen for me to go out today and have a traditional kava welcoming ceremony. We hadn’t had it last week, as Kevin doesn’t actually drink the stuff, and the Pres was away. We drove out to a nakamal (kava bar), words of welcome were pronounced, and I had a couple of shells of kava. It was a bit of a sacred moment, and I didn’t want to spoil it by taking photos, but on the way back I asked Pres to stop the truck so that I could take a photo of the sunset through the coconut plantation.

I go to bed now remembering how even days that start off poorly can come good.