Dalo food of Emperors, Chiefs, and the Common Man

Dalo, better known to many as Taro, may be cooked in a variety of ways. Recommendation – if you get the opportunity, try it cooked in a traditional Fijian earth oven called a Lovo. It is simply delectable. It may also make you reflect on the Romans!

What did the early Romans have in common with the Fijians and other Pacific Islanders?

Answer: they both enjoyed eating Colocasia esculenta, known in Fiji as dalo, and as taro in other Pacific islands.

A stroll through a local market especially on Saturday morning, will reveal a wide choice of foods including taro.

Taro was used by the early Romans in much the same way the potato would later be used by Europeans. They called this root vegetable colocasia.

Apicius, an early Roman writer, mentions several methods for preparing taro. Apicius says that the usual cooking method was to boil taro in water. Apicius suggests that a sauce be made from pepper, cumin, rue, vinegar, oil and liquamen; or fish sauce, to be served with chopped pieces of boiled taro. Apicius also mentions recipes in which pieces of taro are cooked along with meat or fowl, similar to the manner in which potatoes are now used in European meat dishes. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the use of taro gradually ceased in Europe. This was largely due to the decline of trade and commerce, as most of the taro used throughout the Roman Empire had been grown and exported from Egypt.

Typical of leaf vegetables, taro leaves are rich in vitamins and minerals. They are a good source of thiamin, riboflavin, iron, phosphorus, and zinc, and a very good source of vitamin B6, vitamin C, niacin, potassium, copper, and manganese. Taro corms are very high in starch, and are a good source of dietary fiber.

Taro was probably first native to the lowland wetlands of Malaysia. Estimates are that taro was in cultivation in wet tropical India before 5000 B.C, presumably coming from Malaysia, and from India further transported westward to ancient Egypt, where it was described by Greek and Roman historians as an important crop. It is now cultivated in tropical regions of the Pacific, Asia, India, the Middle East and North and South Africa.

Taro is recognised as a most important food crop in Fiji because of the high nutritional value of both the tuber and the leaves. It is a feast food most often served after church on Sundays, on special family occasions and on formal ceremonial occasions such as that of the preparation and serving of yaqona to a high chief or important visitor, having been cooked in a lovo or earth oven. The leaves may be wrapped in such a way as to contain coconut cream to produce a dish known as palusami. This may also contain onion and corned beef.

The advantage of taro cultivation in Fiji is that it is grown organically, combining both a natural growing cycle and high food value without the use of artificial chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

There is nothing quite like the taste of dalo fresh from Fiji’s traditional earth oven or lovo. Next time you have an opportunity, try it. It may make you reflect on the Romans, it will definitely make you reflect on the Fijians!