Breadfruit

A majestic breadfruit tree
in the yard next to Vincent's office

The Tahitians say the first thing you should make sure when you choose a house is that is has a breadfruit tree in the garden. Thankfully, our house in Hiva Oa has one.

The breadfruit tree is the wonder plant of the Pacific, the one that once caused Lieutenant William Bligh, commanding HMS The Bounty, to be sent all the way from England to Tahiti (a ten-month journey at the time). His mission, the aim of which was subsequently eclipsed by the mutiny of part of the sailors and their extraordinary destiny, was to collect breadfruit plants and transport them to the West Indies, where they would be grown to feed the African slaves. After his epic journey back home, on board a tiny boat carrying nineteen men, Captain Bligh returned to Tahiti and successfully carried out his mission, which is why breadfruit trees can be found nowadays in the Antilles.

So, was it really worth all the trouble?  My answer is a definite yes. Breadfruit is indeed as nutritious as bread, and the most versatile food you’ll ever find. The traditional Tahitian recipe couldn’t be much easier: just stick the fruit on a flame, turn it over until the outside looks grey and a thin filet of smoke starts coming out of the bottom. The skin is then very easy to peel, and the flesh really tastes like white bread straight from the oven. But the beauty of “uru” is that you can also bake it as a gratin, chop it and fry it in a pan, or even cook it as a desert, with sugar, tapioca, vanilla and coconut milk. In the Marquesas Islands, one of the traditional dishes is made of fermented breadfruit that has spent at least a year buried into a hole in the ground… I have to admit this doesn’t come to me as the most appealing recipe, and I haven’t tried it yet.

With such a vital role in Polynesian people’s daily lives, it is no wonder that the breadfruit tree has reached legendary status. It is said to have appeared as a result of a young father’s sacrifice to feed his family, in a long gone past when the islands were struck by famine. At night, the father kissed his wife goodbye, went outside and transformed himself into a handsome tree, his hands turning into delicately dented leaves and his head into a big, round fruit. When his wife discovered the tree in the morning and shared the delicious fruit with her children, she named it “uru”, which means “head” in ancient Tahitian.