A unique drink for men in the South Pacific, Kava
== A sedation effect although it is non-alcohol which can be gotten drunk but to be calm ==
[The last renewal of this page: October 23, 2013]
Onece you visited Fiji, it would be a sad story if you go back to your country without knowing Kava.
That is because the Kava is a very unique drink that is only drunk in Fiji and some neighbor countries in the world, and this is what the local people love very much.
Kava is a shrub of the pepper family, and we can get a drink like a muddy water after grinding its roots and put it in a cloth bag (Kava cloth) to clumple it wiht a hand in the plain water. That is a Kava as a dirnk.
The kava does not contain any alcohol. However, as we drink kava, (In the beginning, the tongue gets numb a little bit just like the anesthesia of dentist.) little by little we feel as if we got drunk and get relaxing.
When we drink the alcohol, we get excited, but kava maked us to go to the opposite way to calm us down. (A sedation effect is confirmed medically.)
Of course, kava is not a drug. It is a legal drink.
Fijians have been loving this since the far past, and it is still essential for the formal ceremonies to drink kava in due order among the paricipants.
In many of ordinary families, the kava party starts at night in the garden. Fijian people (especially fijians not indians) love the kava very much, and they sometimes continue the party even till one or two o'clock midnight, with a few men chatting each other.
It does not make people excited, so nobody sing a song nor make big noise. They rather get quiet and calm to enjoy talking the night away.
There are women who drink kava too, but not so many. it is something like "Me should drink kava without any hesitation!".
This is where the kava is sold in the Nadi Town Market. These are roots of Kava tree.
Powdered kava roots is also sold as in the box at the left. It is F$25(US$12.50) for 1Kg, so it is an article of value for local people.
Powdered kava for only genuine roots excluding the part of the axile of roots (The part it looks white in the picture before above one.) is called "waka", and it is more tasty and gets us drunk further.
The waka cost F$35(US$17.50) for 1Kg, so it is a good of higher grade.
This is a picture that I took in Viseisei village. Many local people buy roots rather than powdered kava, and pound it with an iron bar as much as they need at the time.
That is because they can get more fresh and good kava in the cheaper way.
The iron bar is heavy, and the bowl is also made of iron, that if they do it in neighbor, it is really noisy. They keep on doing for about half an hour.
It is a hard work to pound this in to powder.
I bought a Tanoa (A traditional bowl for pouring kava), anyway.
There are various size of tanoa, and there are one more than 1meter of diameter. This is a small one, but it is good for one or two people to enjoy.
A cup made from coconut sehll should be floated on kava. When we drink, give a stir using this cup, and then scoop kava with the cup and drink it.
It must be a coconut cup.
This is my right position to enjoy kava, my favorite balcony of my cottage.
It is the best drink to be lost in meditation? and think over the things.
This picture is taken at my indian friend's home at the Diwali (New year celebration for Hindu).
Everybody sit on the floor aroud the tanoa, and enjoy kava in turn.
The tanoa is big and very ncie.
In case you hit this
page directly from a Search Engine, you can reach to all of the pages of MAFNET from Top Page