First, men take the roots of the sakau plant and clean the mud off of them. The roots are pounded on a slab with another rock. Next, water is mixed in. The mushy roots are then squeezed through... this part is hard to explain... other roots? You can see in the pictures. The result is a rather thick, muddy drink. Some people add more water and sell 40 oz. bottles for $4 a piece. My host family usually just pounds their own sakau and we drink at home.
After drinking a few coconut shells of sakau you feel very mellow. And if you drink enough without standing up, a little dizzy. I enjoy it a lot. Especially now that it is Christmas time, I will be drinking a lot of sakau. And attending a lot of feasts with interesting food. I will save details about that for another post...
When I was in Fiji we drank almost the same thing. They had traditional kava ceremonies and the effects of the kava are exactly as you describe sakau, prepared the same way too so its like youre drinking muddy water. In fiji, however, before taking the "tsumani" bowl you had to clap twice, yell "bula", clap again and then gulp it all in one swig. Anything like that there? Both beigh pacific islands I would be willing to bet they are the same root. Glad your enjoying all the traditional wonders their culture can award you. Happy Holidays :)
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ReplyDeleteI posted a comment to your blog on 10/15. Now that you're at your site, have you identified a water or sanitation project you'd like to do?
Averill Strasser
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No clapping, nor any calling out. As best as I have been able to gather during my time here, sakau from the rock on Pohnpei winds up being stronger and/or better absorbed than kava in Fiji. On Pohnpei the kavalactones are extracted in part by the polysaccharides in the Hibiscus tiliaceus wrap used to squeeze the pounded roots. The roots are pounded "green" - fresh from the ground. The result is strong enough that one really does not want to try to clap or shout out, eventually one cannot. Beyond slightly dizzy are stages of loss of voluntary muscle control and eventually pwopihda.
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