Saturday Lovo

On our first weekend in Fiji, we began our Saturday morning by heading into town to watch the local teams play rugby. It was a very high standard of rugby, loads of offloads and a very fast flowing game. We sat and watched it with the fly half of the combined services team ( a policeman we had met drinking kava that week). Tom was asked to join in next weekend, but after a bit of thought he reluctantly had to decline for fear of being  broken whilst not being covered by travel insurance. Maybe on the last weekend though !!

After this we had the privilege of being invited to a lovo with the family next door. This is a traditional Fijian method of cooking  for special occasion. The food is buried on top of hot coals and covered in palm tree leaves. This is then left to smoke for hours underground.

The invitation to this event had been gained when Rachael had been escorted round to their house on our first day to give medical advice to a Fijian lady. This turned into not only one consultation but a broad discussion about all the family members medications and what they were for.

Before tasting the array of food cooking away in the lovo, we joined the family ( a mix of pure Fijian and 4^th generation English Fijians) in drinking more kava. Again still not qualifying for “High tide” bowls!!
Next came the uncovering of the food. Peeling away the leaves , they exposed the food inside which smelt incredible. It was defiantely an interesting way of cooking!! 
We feasted on all the delicious food in the comfort of their small Fijian house and had an amazing afternoon finding out more about their lives.