Happy New Year! Here we are celebrating Christmas with tree shaped pancakes. There is no particular Christmas food. There is a Palauan tapioca dish for new year (very sweet) and a Japanese bean one (also sweet). Sugar almost sums up Palauan food - oh add lots of meat too and of course fish. After 6 months I cannot say there are many Palauan dishes I have tried. In fact a lot of the diet is pretty dreadful - US and western foods have been greatly adopted. So fish, meat, spam, rice, instant noodles, Kool aid, soy sauce, cakes, taro, tapioca, banana fritters and bento boxes would be staples. There are some really bad mixes like Kool aid (cordial powder), salt and soy sauce. I know - who would ever hve thought of that. Fruit or anything even noodles is dipped into it. This is all washed down with soft drinks and beer.
We try to buy local foods - taro and cassava (root veggies), Kangam (local spinach), bananas and papaya's. Soon it will be mango season, then local avocado season. There is also great locally made tofu and plenty of eggs. Palauans are never vegetarians, but they sort of understand it up to the part about not eating fish. Of course fish and anything connected to the ocean are central to life here. People are allowed to fish in theri home state or village. There are quotas and somt things such as Dugongs are protected and can never be taken. However twice a year you can catch turtles and people absolutely love the meat.
