What’s cooking in paradise? An ethnobotanical investigation of a transitioning food system in Marovo Lagoon, Solomon Islands

Abstract

Changes in diet and associated lifestyle are occurring at growing rates throughout developing Pacific Island countries as people navigate the challenges and opportunities of an increasingly globalised world. This nutrition transition, characterised by an increase in imported foods high in refined starch, sugar and saturated fat, is resulting in an epidemic of obesity and other diseases such as diabetes and heart disease (Caballero and Popkin 2002). Furthermore, these dietary changes, principally the reduction of local food production and consumption, are attenuating the maintenance of and value assigned to some aspects of cultural heritage, including Indigenous knowledge and local resource stewardship . In addition to contending with the impacts of climate change, these circumstances unveil concerns regarding a secure and self-determining food future for Today the biodiversity hotspot of Marovo Lagoon is home to more than 13,000 people scattered throughout some 50 coastal villages. Traditionally based on subsistence swidden gardening and the harvesting of a variety of forest and marine resources, the Marovo food system has been influenced by a long history of cultural exchange, colonialism and, more recently, integration into a cash economy and increasing involvement in global food markets (Hviding 1996a). Local food resources continue to play a vital role in the contemporary Marovo diet however these are increasingly being replaced with nutritionally inferior cheap food imports such as white rice and instant noodles.My research demonstrates that, shadowing trends observed in the capital of Honiara (Jourdan 2010), white rice is the most important and influential imported food eaten in Marovo Lagoon. In fact the convenience of rice, amongst other factors, has facilitated its ongoing and increasing popularity to such an extent that it has undertaken a process of 'glocalisation' -amalgamation of the local and global -to become a central component of Marovo food culture. Today rice often replaces ii locally grown root vegetables to constitute the main staple component of meals. It has also become integrated into traditional systems of reciprocity and feasting; activities that play fundamental social and political roles in Marovo society.The Marovo 'way of life' is undergoing significant change as Marovo people put increasing reliance on imported foods, rather than subsistence gardening, to meet their dietary needs. This thesis explores how these transitions are negatively impacting the maintenance of, and values assigned to, some aspects of Marovo cultural heritage [kastom]. Meanwhile, other elements are evolving, being strengthened and even being constructed, e.g. rice as kastom. Through this process, Marovo people are adding to current knowledge of, and values associated with food, while also constructing new meanings of food and food related activities.My findings in Marovo Lagoon demonstrate a partial nutrition transition, but also, and perhaps more importantly, a transition in values relating to the loc...

Agrifood Chains as Complex Systems and the Role of Informality in Their Sustainability in Small Scale Societies

“…As outlined above, the Christian religion plays a vital role in the lives of the people of the villages we researched. Our participant observation aligns with the research of others (see especially Pitman [70]) in demonstrating that church influences have infiltrated many of the social frameworks of these societies.…”

“…There has been considerable anthropological and agribusiness research undertaken in Solomon Islands as part of previous large-scale research projects [46,58,[64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71]. In our focus areas of Marovo Lagoon, Western Province, and the villages around the capital of Honiara on Guadalcanal, households are critically dependent on raw products obtained from the sea and forests (particularly fish and crustaceans, but also seaweed, ferns and mangrove shoots), and from crops grown in gardens, both for subsistence use (such as food and shelter) and for the generation of income, which in turn is spent on goods and services such as: imported food stuffs, especially rice and tinned fish [70,72]; material goods including fishing gear; school fees; meeting church obligations [65,69,70,73].…”

“…Bayliss-Smith [64], Hviding and Bayliss-Smith [67], Cohen and Ross [65] and Pitman [70] have detailed the changes to the food systems in Marovo Lagoon over the past 30 years in relation to the commercialisation of local resources, especially through logging and fishing, but also in relation to interand intra-village marketing of raw or value-added goods. They report on: declining crop diversity; increased dependence on imported foodstuffs; decreased soil fertility, which is related to reduced fallow periods and increased commercial logging; declines in fishing (largely due to the massive increase in commercial fisheries); increased meat-food restrictions due to church teachings (especially the Seventh Day Adventist church [70,73]); and the intensification of local gardens to produce a surplus for sale in local markets. The intersection of these factors has shaped the food future for many villagers throughout Solomon Islands [68], including in the capital, Honiara [72].…”

“…The two main churches operating in the regions we studied are the Seventh Day Adventist Church and the United Church (akin to the Western Methodist Christian sect). Unlike Tonga, where the church quickly assimilated into Tongan elitist hierarchical structures, in Solomon Islands the church has dominated village life and severely altered many traditional practices, including food practices [70,72,73,76]. This is seen most clearly in Adventist villages where adherents to this religious sect no longer eat any shellfish species (a dominant part of subsistence in Solomon Islands communities for thousands of years) nor do they consume pig (still popular in villages adhering to other faiths); additionally, all forms of stimulants (alcohol, tea, coffee, and betel nut) are forbidden (again, unlike villages that adhere to other faiths).…”

“…Nevertheless, despite the change in food consumption brought about by church and market influences, garden production continues to be a vital part of local livelihoods throughout rural Solomon Islands, including in Marovo Lagoon [66,70]. Villagers maintain a large garden on 'puava' (land) assigned to families in accordance with 'butubutu' (tribal) law and kinship relationships [66,70]. On Guadalcanal, similar laws and kinship frameworks operate [72], with this social setting for land inheritance and subsequent use being common throughout Solomon Islands [76].…”