Solomon Islands

A public service announcement is necessary here: raw taro leaves are poisonous. Don't eat them unless fully cooked. I don’t understand why we weren’t warned at the store or in the recipe, before Vonnett tore off a small piece and put it in her mouth. Her tongue and throat started burning immediately. Dairy is suggested online as an antidote, so she drank a whole container of kefir to stop the pain. She also made sure I knew her medical information just in case I needed to call 911. Then we went back to preparing the meal.

It was an interesting meal. I’m used to eating canned tuna and fresh corned beef. Instead Vonnett picked up fresh tuna from Costco and I found canned corned beef, along with the taro root, taro leaves, and coconut milk at the Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander SuperMarket at corner of Redlands Blvd and Mountain View in Loma Linda. It only took us about two hours of relaxed cooking for the four items. Vonnett loved the taro chips. I thought the tuna curry was good, despite having doubts about cooking the cucumber in it. I would have enjoyed the corned beef with taro more if I wasn’t so nervous about eating the taro after Vonnett’s scare. Chard, kale, or spinach would be good substitutes. The coconut pudding was smooth and delicious. Vonnett raved about it several times and teased that she would eat Kevin’s share before he got home from work. We finished the lovely, but more dramatic than usual, evening by watching Raya and the Dragon on DisneyPlus, set in an imaginary land based in this part of the world. The recipes from our dinner are here: https://www.internationalcuisine.com/about-food-and-culture-of-solomon-islands-and-tuvalu/

The people of the Solomon Islands are justifiably proud of their work as coast watchers and scouts during World War II. When I couldn’t find books at the library by someone from the Solomon Islands, I took this opportunity to learn more about John F. Kennedy’s experience after his ship was sunk by the Japanese in the waters of the Solomon Islands. I appreciated PT-109 by William Doyle both because I learned more about an American president, but also because Doyle names and describes the various islands and passages, as well as naming and quoting the islanders who rescued Kennedy. For a summary of the story by a history buff who visited the setting of Kennedy’s ordeal and took some beautiful video, see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySPG1fvgYNU

I followed up by learning more about the war as it played out in the Solomon Islands. The Great Courses series on World War II: The Pacific Theater by Craig Symonds has the sessions “Guadalcanal: Jungle Warfare,” “Ironbottom Sound, 1942-1943,” and “MacArthur, Halsey, and Operation Cartwheel,” which I watched on Kanopy. I then pivoted to other subjects by watching the Kanopy videos on how Solomon Islanders were kidnapped into sugar slavery in Australia (this was called blackbirding) and on how the Are’are people make panflutes with bamboo. See this next video for an upbeat and fun sample of their traditional music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzL8ACSZTaU&t=6s

A few examples of musicians producing more contemporary music from the Solomon Islands are:

· Black Wine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkWcz5Ag-K8

· Kay Yung: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_asgWp4VZQ

· Circle Crew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tATjawSddpU

I was able to find three parts of the River Monsters episode from the Solomon Islands.

· The arrival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lJ8p5u0Ftc

· Clamming with the women: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azLKUgsLVfk

· Herding fish with the village: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8kkCHsMrNo

I also enjoyed this page on the art: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/solo/hd_solo.htm

If I were visiting the Solomon Islands, I would see these things: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g294139-Activities-Solomon_Islands.html

I would love to go! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in the Solomon Islands and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: United Nations https://www.flickr.com/photos/un_photo/6123510563/