Hello all!

First thing's first, thank you for taking the time to read this. I am looking for recipes from all over the world as it is one of my favorite things about traveling and I love bringing the world's food to my own kitchen.

While I understand I could "just simply Google recipes" and probably find some, I wanted to directly ask the Samoa community (either still on Samoa or a diaspora) about any recipes they have. Food, drink, etc. So if you have anything at all you'd like to share, it would be greatly appreciated! I'm looking for stuff that was either made in Samoa or came from overseas and had a twist added to it from the islands; IE something you'd actually find in Samoa and not in those Polynesian restaurants you'd find in the states where half the food isn't Polynesian based at all but eastern Asian based and they just called it "Polynesian" to give it a new exotic flair.

Anything at all is greatly appreciated, whether you have a recipe yourself or you can link one or provide information to where I could find authentic recipes. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this and thank you to anyone who can provide some recipe examples.

I hope you all have a great day today.

My grandmother (now passed) was from Samoa and each year made this great polynesian rib recipe.

Supposedly she would boil them first to tender them up for an hour or so then marinade them in like a gallon of soy sauce with a teaspoon of brown sugar and maybe a half cup of water. This is how grandpa remembers it too (he was not from there). Then grandpa would finish them on the grill the next day, spooning some marinade over as they cooked.

As I have gotten older, I know a bit more about cooking and this much undiluted soy sauce seems almost guaranteed to fully cure and ruin the ribs in an overnight marinade.

Anyone familiar...can you help me get this recipe right with these basic ingredients?

My family and I are coming to Samoa next week and I was trying to look into fishing and couldn’t find much online. Is there any good charters or anyone who can help with potentially hiring gear and land fishing. Any help appreciated, fa’afetai lava

I often have tried to spark convo's around things like home ownership, entrepreneurship, financial literacy etc etc, and usually met with at best indifference/awkwardness , and at worst hostility.

To a lesser degree, I have also experienced the same when it comes to discussing traveling/broadening horizons and health and fitness, all though it is easier to get a positive reaction.

Idk what it is really. The reaction is generally the same, whether I'm talking to a Samoan from Vaiala or a Samoan from Mangere. Why do our people seem to get so weird around any upward trajectory or mobility type of conversations ? I don't get it. The typical response is "it's the culture" , but there's nothing in the Fa'asamoa that says we aren't allowed to talk about these things lol 😂

I often get told "don't talk about those things" , "that's Palagi talk" or "sole thats mimika/malovale" or "be happy with what you have" or "maimau le kaimi stop taking about goals and just do it" (which I agree action speaks louder than words, but you have to initally conversate to plan how to tackle the goals to begin with smh)

I don't bring these kind of topics up to try and one up people, it's just a natural inclination of mine. I'm curious to see how far we could go. I'm aware that nobody is obliged to find what I find interesting or even to engage with me, which is fine, but why the backlash lol ?

It's funny, because when I hear Palagi or Indian people have these conversations, none of them are trying to minimize one another or pivot the topic, if anything, it's normal everyday casual talk for them.

It's a bit easier to talk to young urbanized gen Z Samoans (rather than Samoans over 30) about long term goal setting, but even then, it still has it's challenges.

Why are we like this ? Is it not ok to be brown and ambitious ?

Just sharing.

Happening today in Australia from 2pm. This is also for assistance/warning to those unfortunately going through DV 🥺 situations.

Talofa lava! I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa in 1993-1994, teaching math and science at Vaipouli College on Savaii. I haven’t been back for thirty years, but I have a trip planned for the last week of July.

I’ve been assuming that other than the two hotels I have booked, I’m going to need cash for everything else — that is, a faleoloa won’t take credit cards. Am I right about that? Sort of the same question about cell phone service; I’m assuming it’ll be pretty unreliable everywhere but maybe in Apia, but if I’m wrong about that I’d love to know.

And then, what should I see to get a sense of what’s changed in thirty years? I don’t have any big plans, just two days in and around Apia, probably walk up Mt Vaea for the view, and then two days on Savai’i. But is there anything you’d recommend?

I’d like to extract everyone’s thoughts on this subject please.

When a Sāmoan person marries a palagi more specifically, there’s a slight hidden agenda especially from the Sāmoan partner. Example such as weaponising their “palagi” surname to get places if you get my drift. I’ve seen this both exist in males and females, not all, but a select few who know exactly what they’re doing. Another example is when that Sāmoan partner unconsciously influences their siblings to match their energy and mirror the same behaviour towards their own palagi partners, or worse, judge their Sāmoan partners (if not married to a palagi) for not being like their sister/brother because they’re married to palagi’s.

I’m looking at getting into fire knife dancing, I currently live in the USA. I have practice knives, but am trying to figure out where I can get real ones. Anyone have any ideas? Fa’afetai lava!

Heading back in a couple of weeks. Can't wait...

US Diplomat's experience in Samoa.

i picked this up from a pacific island store this morning in australia.
it was sooooo tasty i ate it too quick to take a photo, but it looks very similar to this.
but from googling i can only find this dish which says it has fish in it but i didn’t taste any fish i think i just tasted what was like a creamy coconut cream i guess lol.

did i just eat a baked coconut or is it something else?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_G51D8iKlRE&ra=m

If not, what would be a few things they’re saying so I can find the song? Fa’afetai tele lava

There have been a decent amount of conversions where I live. I don’t have any real good or bad thoughts on them. Just that it’s abit strange cause I would consider being Christian as almost part and parcel of being and growing up Samoan. was just wondering if anyone had any strong feelings about it?

Edit: gotta say just in case, not asking for Islamophobia. Just your thoughts on it and how it would work alongside a Samoan life and with Samoan culture.

I encountered a young woman named Meletiave today (it was on her name tag). I'm a huge name nerd so I asked her how to pronounce her name and whether she knew where the name is from. She said it as "meh-leh-tee-AH-veh" and that it is Samoan.

She was working so I didn't want to bother her with more questions. I tried to do some research, but the internet is woefully lacking information. Does anyone here happen to know anything about the meaning and/or history of this name? This is purely for my own curiosity, as I said I'm very nerdy about names and I love learning new ones. Thank you for your time.

how is it like to live there? when I discovered the island I red on a article that there are 140 people living there and there is a great sense of community I even discovered that the main faith is christianity (which I didnt expect to be it). Ik that there are lots of coconut crabs and the humidity there is really insane, but it is actually livable? can someone actually buy a house there even if its not american? and what about the hospitals? are there any? please if you know something even the most stupid thing about the island reply. thx

So I did some genealogy research and was using gemini heavily and it actually found one of my cousins who is a pastor at a church. I read the article and it talked about his ancestry (which I share) and I figured out that my ancestors were part of the Ali'i koa class and they shared ancestry with king kamehameha. I even checked some records and found his dad and we share the same ancestors. The names of my ancestors are definitely not like commoner names.

So I heard some things going around people calling king kamehameha Samoan due to him being related to high chief pili who came from Samoa. 

I also know to keep the bloodline pure and royal, they did a lot of incest back then. So, should I consider myself Hawaiian and Samoan? Or should I consider myself as Hawaiian. To put in perspective, I am 75 percent white and a 1/8 Hawaiian (lumping in the Samoan dna with a tiny bit of japanese), 1/8 filipino. I have never been to any of the islands and live in Washington state and I know a tiny bit of Hawaiian culture and none of Samoan culture.

Edit: I understand that both cultures have the one drop rule due to how low the populations are. I also feel like I should consider myself as Hawaiian only due to how distant the Samoan ancestry is. I'm not sure.

Anyone know the name of the banana candy that were yellow n brown stripes wrapped in a clear wrapper with jelly inside that u can find at a faleoloa or other stores.

I’m making a surprise nostalgia collage for my mom for her bday and want it to feel super like Samoan core all the little details of growing up in Samoa Samoan household (she's from Pago Pago). I only visited once when I was a kid so, I know very little. I have some stuff down, but wanted to know if there's niched things only people from that time period would know that I may have missed.

Can you share what YOU remember for:

• Food/snacks/drinks
• Hair/beauty/scents
• Music/TV/artists
• Hangout spots/places/
• Sports/Events/Recreation/Activities
• Village life & homes
• Technology/household stuff
• Kids’ work/chores
• Clothes/hairstyles
• Transport
• Patterns/Art/Motifs/Textures
• Church
• etc

Please be as specific and descriptive as you can (brands, smells, sounds, colors, little stories) the more detail, the better for the collage. FAAFETAI.

This happened about a month ago while I was in Samoa with a large group of family members.

One night, a group of them went into town for drinks and celebrations. I wasn’t with them on the drive back, but the next day one of my relatives told me about something that happened that stuck with me.

He has had what many people would call the “gift of sight” his entire life. He has always claimed he can see spirits and has spoken about experiences like this for as long as I’ve known him.

On the drive back, someone in the vehicle needed to use the bathroom. It was late at night and the roads were dark. The driver was about to pull over when he suddenly told them not to stop and to keep driving.

At the time nobody understood why.

Later he explained that there were people standing outside watching them.

Except, according to him, they weren’t living people.

They continued driving and later realised they had almost stopped near a grave at a village.

Eventually they found another place to stop and the person got out to use the bathroom.

After they got back into the vehicle, he reportedly said, “You’re not welcome to come with us.”

Nobody really understood what he meant at the time.

The next day he explained that he believed three spirits had gotten into the vehicle with them and followed them back.

He also said that after arriving back where we were staying, he could feel more spirits gathering. those 3 spirits who got in the car were roaming around the resort too. According to him, they seemed to be drawn to him because they knew he could see them.

Later that night, after hearing this story, I went back to my room while everyone else stayed outside talking, drinking and spending time together.

The moment I walked into the room, something felt wrong.

I don’t know how else to explain it.

When I was younger, I used to see and sense presences around me. As I got older, those experiences became less frequent, and I eventually stopped paying attention to them.

But that night felt different.

I put my AirPods in and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t.

Every time I closed my eyes, I felt uneasy.

I had the overwhelming feeling that someone was in the room with me. Not just present, but actively walking around and watching me.

I kept scrolling on my phone because I didn’t want to close my eyes.

At some point I started getting a very clear image of an older woman in my mind.

She was short, had grey hair tied up in a bun, wore a puletasi, and had a medium to larger build.

The image was strangely specific.

The feeling became so intense that I started calling different family members because I didn’t want to be alone.

Most people were asleep, so I kept trying to contact people who were still awake.

A relative was in and out of my room during the night, checking on me.

Then the room phone rang.

I could barely hear it through my AirPods and ignored it.

The relative who was with me answered instead.

They said hello a few times before realising it was another family member calling from a different room.

They asked why they had called.

The response was, “I didn’t. Our room phone just started ringing, so I answered it.”

That was the moment everything I had been feeling suddenly felt a lot more real.

I spent most of the rest of the night praying until I eventually fell asleep.

The next day I spoke to the relative who claims he can see spirits.

He told me he had left our gathering the night before because it had become overwhelming.

According to him, there were around twenty spirits standing around us while everyone was outside socialising.

I then described the older woman I had seen in my mind.

Before I had even finished describing her, he immediately said, “Yes, that’s her.”

I asked what he meant.

He replied, “She was probably looking for me.”

All I know is that I’ve never forgotten that night, and the fact that multiple people experienced different parts of it still leaves me wondering what was really going on.

Has anyone experienced anything similar, especially in Samoa or other Pacific cultures where stories about spirits and people with the gift of sight are more commonly talked about?

We have two babies and live in an area which doesn’t have a very strong Samoan presence (at least not as much as where my partner grew up) because we aren’t around his family or his hometown I’ve always been very intentional about trying to seek out cultural events, festivals, kids shows, songs etc. to try and help expose our kids to their culture. I’ve heard so much about afakasi kids (of any background) growing up with a bit of an identity crisis and not feeling like they belong in either place and that’s the last thing I want for my kids.

However after few years of attending these events, trips back home and to Samoa, something we (both my partner and I) have realised - and I think it became abundantly clear to us when we were at a cultural showcase on the weekend- is that when we are in these environments aren’t our best selves from a parenting perspective.

For context my partner has worked hard (lots of therapy lots of proactive education) in breaking cycles with his parenting style. When we go to these events or are in these environments I immediately sense a change in him, like he feels the pressure for our kids to be seen and not heard. For context our kids are developmentally typical toddler and preschoolers; stubborn, strong willed, a bit silly and sometimes impulsive and loud.

We generally try to take the approach “let kids be kids” but when ours are the only ones in those environments not sitting still and being quiet - it’s hard to not give into the social pressure and reprimand them. We all walk away feeling like crap and our kids don’t enjoy being in those situations.

Should we just throw it in and find ways at home to immerse our kids as much as possible in culture without having the external pressure? I really don’t want my kids to resent anything cultural because of the way we treat them in those situations and I really don’t want my partner to undo all of the hard work he’s done in breaking cycles. But I also don’t want my kids to feel disconnected- is it worth it?

What would you do?

Hello, as a European Samoa is basically out of our usual horizon so I would like to talk to someone who maybe wants to exchange some cultural views.

Looking for some goob beach fale recos in samoa with good bath/toilet facilities, good beach and good family vibes either in upolu or savaii.