Fire, Food, and Earth: The Tahitian ‘Ahimā’a SUE SAMUELSON AWARD FOR FOODWAYS SCHOLARSHIP FIRST PLACE
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Abstract
‘Ahimā’a translates as fire-food, and it refers to the underground oven where Tahitian recipes are prepared. In it, the much beloved local food, mā’a tahiti, gains its characteristic flavor and smoky scent. The practice of cooking this way would have followed the well-worn path that colonialism established, becoming an olfactory memory, if not for the decision that the scent of the food needed to be preserved. To better understand the role the ‘ahimā’a plays in Tahitian society and what is to be learned by how it navigates modernity, this article will provide an overview of Tahitian foodways as well as the changes brought by colonialism and industrialization. I will argue that when the ‘ahimā’a faced modernity, decisions were made as to what truly characterized the food tradition, what must be preserved, and what from the outside world could and should be included–allowing the tradition to maintain continuity while modernizing.
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