'otai

Last updated • 1 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
'otai
Otai.jpg
'otai
Alternative namesŌtai, Vai
Type Juice
Place of origin Polynesia
Region or state Niue, Samoa, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Wallis and Futuna
Main ingredients Coconut meat, Coconut milk, Coconut water

ʻotai is a drink which originated in western Polynesia and is usually made as a refreshing accompaniment to large meals.

Today, the beverage is most associated with Tongan cuisine, although similar versions of 'otai were made and enjoyed in other archipelagoes, including Uvea, Samoa, Futuna, Tokelau, Tuvalu, and Niue. [1] The original Samoan version as recorded by European colonists in the 1890s was made by mixing grated ambarella fruit (called vi in Samoan language and Tongan, wi in Hawaiian language) and young coconut meat with coconut milk and coconut water. [2] The mixture was poured into large, empty coconut shells corked with coconut husk and allowed to chill in cold pools of water (or behind waterfalls) before serving.

The modern Tongan recipe most well-known today is usually a blend of water, shredded coconut meat, and any variety of grated tropical fruits, most commonly watermelon, mango and pineapple, with watermelon being the most used in the Tongan Islands. Sugar is usually added to taste. Tongan historians have noted this version is a very modern take on the traditional Polynesian ʻotai, especially since milk, refined sugar, watermelons, mangos, and pineapples are all introduced, foreign ingredients that were not native to Tonga. The original Tongan recipe was said to be identical to the Samoan recipe, except the preferred native fruit was not ambarella (vi), but the Tongan mountain apple, called fekika. In Samoa, this distinction of "native" and "introduced" recipes is differentiated as "ʻotai" only refers to the drink prepared with vi fruit, while the ʻotai made with European-introduced fruits are respectively called vai meleni (watermelon drink), vai mago (mango drink), or vai fala (pineapple drink).

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Costa Rican cuisine</span> Cuisine originating from Costa Rica

Costa Rican cuisine is known for being mostly mild, with high reliance on fruits and vegetables. Rice and black beans are a staple of most traditional Costa Rican meals, often served three times a day. Costa Rican fare is nutritionally well rounded, and nearly always cooked from scratch from fresh ingredients. Owing to the location of the country, tropical fruits and vegetables are readily available and included in the local cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinidad and Tobago cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago has a unique history and its food is influenced by Indian-South Asian, West African, Creole, European, American, Chinese, Amerindian, and Latin American culinary styles. Trinidadian and Tobagonian food is dominated by a wide selection of dishes, most notably, doubles, roti, pelau, callaloo and curried crab and dumplings. Trinidad and Tobago is also known for its prepared provisions, such as dasheen, sweet potato, eddoes, cassava, yam, soups and stews, also known as blue food across the country. Corresponding to the Blue Food Day event held annually in Trinidad and Tobago.

Po‘e or poke is a Polynesian pudding usually eaten as a dessert.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sri Lankan cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan cuisine is known for its particular combinations of herbs, spices, fish, vegetables, rices, and fruits. The cuisine is highly centered around many varieties of rice, as well as coconut which is a ubiquitous plant throughout the country. Seafood also plays a significant role in the cuisine, be it fresh fish or preserved fish. As a country that was a hub in the historic oceanic silk road, contact with foreign traders brought new food items and cultural influences in addition to the local traditions of the country's ethnic groups, all of which have helped shape Sri Lankan cuisine. Influences from Indian, Indonesian and Dutch cuisines are most evident with Sri Lankan cuisine sharing close ties to other neighbouring South and Southeast Asian cuisines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Filipino cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of the Philippines

Filipino cuisine is composed of the cuisines of more than a hundred distinct ethnolinguistic groups found throughout the Philippine archipelago. A majority of mainstream Filipino dishes that compose Filipino cuisine are from the food traditions of various ethnolinguistic groups and tribes of the archipelago, including the Ilocano, Pangasinan, Kapampangan, Tagalog, Bicolano, Visayan, Chavacano, and Maranao ethnolinguistic groups. The dishes associated with these groups evolved over the centuries from a largely indigenous base shared with maritime Southeast Asia with varied influences from Chinese, Spanish, and American cuisines, in line with the major waves of influence that had enriched the cultures of the archipelago, and adapted using indigenous ingredients to meet local preferences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Batida</span> Brazilian cocktails made with the national alcoholic drink cachaça

Batida is a Brazilian cocktail, and is one of several Brazilian cocktails that are made with the national alcoholic drink cachaça. In Portuguese batida means shaken or milkshake, and the word also means a crash, usually used when referring to a car crash. This beverage is made with cachaça, fruit juice, and sugar. It is blended or shaken with ice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colombian cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Colombia

Colombian cuisine is a culinary tradition of the six main regions within Colombia. Colombian cuisine varies regionally and is influenced by Indigenous Colombian, Spanish, and African cuisines, with slight Arab influence in some regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominican Republic cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of the Dominican Republic

Dominican cuisine is made up of Spanish, indigenous Taíno, Middle Eastern, African, Cuban, Puerto Rican and Haitian influences. The most recent influences in Dominican cuisine are from the British West Indies and China.

<i>Spondias dulcis</i> Species of tree

Spondias dulcis, known commonly as June plum, is a tropical tree, with edible fruit containing a fibrous pit. In the English-speaking Caribbean it is typically known as golden apple and elsewhere in the Caribbean as pommecythere or cythere. In Polynesia it is known as vī.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coconut rice</span> Coconut-flavoured rice

Coconut rice is a dish prepared by cooking white rice in coconut milk or coconut flakes. As both the coconut and the rice-plant are commonly found in the tropics all around the world, coconut rice, too, is found in many cultures throughout the world, spanning across the equator from Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, South America, Central America, West Africa, East Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania.

<i>Chè</i> Type of Vietnamese dessert

Chè is any traditional Vietnamese sweet beverage, dessert soup or stew, or pudding. Chè includes a wide variety of distinct soups or puddings. Varieties of Chè can be made with mung beans, black-eyed peas, kidney beans, tapioca, jelly, fruit, and coconut cream. Other types are made with ingredients such as salt, aloe vera, seaweed, lotus seed, sesame seed, sugar palm seeds, taro, cassava and pandan leaf extract. Some varieties, such as chè trôi nước, may also include dumplings. Chè are often prepared with one of a number of varieties of beans, tubers, and/or glutinous rice, cooked in water and sweetened with sugar. In southern Vietnam, chè are often garnished with coconut creme.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinilaw</span> Filipino seafood dish

Kinilaw is a raw seafood dish and preparation method native to the Philippines. It is sometimes also referred to as Philippine ceviche due to its similarity to the Latin American dish ceviche. It is more accurately a cooking process that relies on vinegar and acidic fruit juices to denature the ingredients, rather than a dish, as it can also be used to prepare meat and vegetables. Kinilaw dishes are usually eaten as appetizers before a meal, or as finger food with alcoholic drinks. Kinilaw is also sometimes called kilawin, especially in the northern Philippines, but the term kilawin more commonly applies to a similar lightly grilled meat dish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belizean cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Belize

Belizean cuisine is an amalgamation of all ethnicities in the nation of Belize and their respectively wide variety of foods. Breakfast often consists of sides of bread, flour tortillas, or fry jacks that are often homemade and eaten with various cheeses. All are often accompanied with refried beans, cheeses, and various forms of eggs, etc. Inclusive is also cereal along with milk, coffee, or tea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fijian cuisine</span> Food culture of the Fijian Islands

Fijian cuisine has long consisted of primarily foraged and farm-grown food. Although rice, wheat, and tea all became staples during Fiji's colonial era, native Fijians still eat primarily tubers and coconuts. The cuisine of Fiji is known for its seafood and various green vegetables, including ''ota'', a young forest fern, and ''bele'', a plant that resembles spinach.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niuean cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Niue

Niue is an island in the Southern Pacific, mostly inhabited by Polynesians. The plantations are mostly filled with manioc, taro and breadfruit, but banana trees can be found. The wide range of exotic plants in Niue includes taros, pawpaw, coconuts, bananas, yams, cassavas and breadfruits: All are intensively used in the local cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Balinese cuisine</span> Cuisine tradition from the Island of Bali

Balinese cuisine is a cuisine tradition of Balinese people from the volcanic island of Bali. Using a variety of spices, blended with the fresh vegetables, meat and fish. Part of Indonesian cuisine, it demonstrates indigenous traditions, as well as influences from other Indonesian regional cuisine, Chinese and Indian. The island's inhabitants are predominantly Hindu and culinary traditions are somewhat distinct with the rest of Indonesia, with festivals and religious celebrations including many special foods prepared as the offerings for the deities, as well as other dishes consumed communally during the celebrations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lūʻau (food)</span> Traditional Polynesian dish of cooked of taro leaves and stem

Lūʻau, Luʻau, Laulau, , Rourou, Rukau, Fāfā, Hāhā, and Palusami are all related dishes found throughout Polynesia based on the use of taro leaves as a primary ingredient. While taro generally is known as a root vegetable for its starchy corms, the leaves are consumed as well. The base recipe is vegetarian. Most often, coconut milk was added, and later meat or seafood. The texture of the dish range from a thick soup to a dense cake.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samalamig</span> Filipino sweet-chilled beverages

Samalamig, also known as palamig, is a collective term for various Filipino sweet chilled beverages that usually include jelly-like ingredients. They come in various flavors, and are commonly sold by street vendors as refreshments. Typical ingredients of the drinks include gulaman (agar), sago pearls, kaong, tapioca pearls, nata de coco, and coconut. They are usually anglicized as pearl coolers or pearl and jelly coolers.

References

  1. POLLEX-Online : The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online. Oceanic Linguistics. Entries for QOTAI (PN) Dish of raw fruits: (')o(o)tai - Pollex Archived 2022-12-18 at the Wayback Machine
  2. The Samoa Islands, Volume 1. Kramer, Augustin. Polynesian Press