r/Samoa

Hello all!

First thing's first, thank you for taking the time to read this. I am looking for recipes from all over the world as it is one of my favorite things about traveling and I love bringing the world's food to my own kitchen.

While I understand I could "just simply Google recipes" and probably find some, I wanted to directly ask the Samoa community (either still on Samoa or a diaspora) about any recipes they have. Food, drink, etc. So if you have anything at all you'd like to share, it would be greatly appreciated! I'm looking for stuff that was either made in Samoa or came from overseas and had a twist added to it from the islands; IE something you'd actually find in Samoa and not in those Polynesian restaurants you'd find in the states where half the food isn't Polynesian based at all but eastern Asian based and they just called it "Polynesian" to give it a new exotic flair.

Anything at all is greatly appreciated, whether you have a recipe yourself or you can link one or provide information to where I could find authentic recipes. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this and thank you to anyone who can provide some recipe examples.

I hope you all have a great day today.

I often have tried to spark convo's around things like home ownership, entrepreneurship, financial literacy etc etc, and usually met with at best indifference/awkwardness , and at worst hostility.

To a lesser degree, I have also experienced the same when it comes to discussing traveling/broadening horizons and health and fitness, all though it is easier to get a positive reaction.

Idk what it is really. The reaction is generally the same, whether I'm talking to a Samoan from Vaiala or a Samoan from Mangere. Why do our people seem to get so weird around any upward trajectory or mobility type of conversations ? I don't get it. The typical response is "it's the culture" , but there's nothing in the Fa'asamoa that says we aren't allowed to talk about these things lol 😂

I often get told "don't talk about those things" , "that's Palagi talk" or "sole thats mimika/malovale" or "be happy with what you have" or "maimau le kaimi stop taking about goals and just do it" (which I agree action speaks louder than words, but you have to initally conversate to plan how to tackle the goals to begin with smh)

I don't bring these kind of topics up to try and one up people, it's just a natural inclination of mine. I'm curious to see how far we could go. I'm aware that nobody is obliged to find what I find interesting or even to engage with me, which is fine, but why the backlash lol ?

It's funny, because when I hear Palagi or Indian people have these conversations, none of them are trying to minimize one another or pivot the topic, if anything, it's normal everyday casual talk for them.

It's a bit easier to talk to young urbanized gen Z Samoans (rather than Samoans over 30) about long term goal setting, but even then, it still has it's challenges.

Why are we like this ? Is it not ok to be brown and ambitious ?

My grandmother (now passed) was from Samoa and each year made this great polynesian rib recipe.

Supposedly she would boil them first to tender them up for an hour or so then marinade them in like a gallon of soy sauce with a teaspoon of brown sugar and maybe a half cup of water. This is how grandpa remembers it too (he was not from there). Then grandpa would finish them on the grill the next day, spooning some marinade over as they cooked.

As I have gotten older, I know a bit more about cooking and this much undiluted soy sauce seems almost guaranteed to fully cure and ruin the ribs in an overnight marinade.

Anyone familiar...can you help me get this recipe right with these basic ingredients?

My family and I are coming to Samoa next week and I was trying to look into fishing and couldn’t find much online. Is there any good charters or anyone who can help with potentially hiring gear and land fishing. Any help appreciated, fa’afetai lava

I’d like to extract everyone’s thoughts on this subject please.

When a Sāmoan person marries a palagi more specifically, there’s a slight hidden agenda especially from the Sāmoan partner. Example such as weaponising their “palagi” surname to get places if you get my drift. I’ve seen this both exist in males and females, not all, but a select few who know exactly what they’re doing. Another example is when that Sāmoan partner unconsciously influences their siblings to match their energy and mirror the same behaviour towards their own palagi partners, or worse, judge their Sāmoan partners (if not married to a palagi) for not being like their sister/brother because they’re married to palagi’s.

There are posts made in this subreddit every other week by people that are Samoan and white who struggle with their identity and incorrectly label themselves as ‘afakasi.

The word ‘afakasi ( half-caste ) was a divisive term created in the islands by Europeans. By the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, there were already generations of Samoans mixed with Europeans, and those Europeans used ‘afakasi as a label to describe people of mixed blood who they deemed to be “above” the native Samoans. That label also came with a caveat: you were expected to be educated as a European and to forgo fa‘asamoa to adopt European ways instead. The original generation of ‘afakasi were the children of Samoan mothers and colonial European fathers, that’s why ‘afakasi surnames have prevailed in the islands for the last hundred-or-so years. But the term itself was a tool of erasure by the white man.

The subsequent generations of mixed children, whether 50% European/50% Samoan or with even lesser percentages of European ancestry, began to denounce the term and by the mid-20th century, it was seen by some as derogatory. Of course, by that time, colorism was rampant and European ancestry either helped you or hindered you by producing lighter skin and European features.

Mind you, this was all taking place on the islands. The term ‘afakasi is an island term: children born in the islands to European fathers/Samoan mothers or mixed-race parents whose ancestors came to the islands to colonize. If you’re living outside of Samoa and you have a white parent and a Samoan parent, that doesn’t make you ‘afakasi. Worse than that, people throw the term around without understanding its history and perpetuating the erasure.

For those who think of themselves as “afakasi,” referring to yourself as such only furthers the degradation of fa‘asamoa by its colonizers. If you’re on a quest to “be more Samoan,” or to “get in touch with your Samoan side,” your journey should start with removing that word from your vocab until you understand the context in which it is appropriate. Alofa tele.

Talofa lava! I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Samoa in 1993-1994, teaching math and science at Vaipouli College on Savaii. I haven’t been back for thirty years, but I have a trip planned for the last week of July.

I’ve been assuming that other than the two hotels I have booked, I’m going to need cash for everything else — that is, a faleoloa won’t take credit cards. Am I right about that? Sort of the same question about cell phone service; I’m assuming it’ll be pretty unreliable everywhere but maybe in Apia, but if I’m wrong about that I’d love to know.

And then, what should I see to get a sense of what’s changed in thirty years? I don’t have any big plans, just two days in and around Apia, probably walk up Mt Vaea for the view, and then two days on Savai’i. But is there anything you’d recommend?

i want to come to Samoa, is it safe for a solo female traveller? x

US Diplomat's experience in Samoa.