Breadfruit fermentation practices in Oceania

by

Nancy J. POLLOCK *

Fermentation of breadfruit is a method of processing the fruit that was developed locally in the Pacific, but is part of pattern of processing foods that was extensively developed in south-east Asia as well as in other parts of the world (Steinkraus 1983). The links between the geographical occurrences of these processes are not yet established. Nor are the steps involved in processing breadfruit so well documented as those for tempe, shoyu, etc. Two important papers that deal with food preparation and processing in the Pacific include fermentation as if it were only for storage of breadfruit (Barrau and Peeters 1972 : 148 ; Yen 1975 : 150). However, fermented breadfruit was eaten in the Marquesas and in Truk mixed with fresh breadfruit as part of the basic highly desired daily food supply (Handy & Handy 1923 : 188 ; Le Bar 1963). And on Namu, Marshall Islands, bwiru paste was eaten two to three weeks after it was set in the pits to ferment (NJP fieldno- tes). Thus it will be argued here that fermented breadfruit was made as much for its contribution to variety of flavour and texture in the diet as for its contribution to storage against future shortages.

The breadfruit tree, Artocarpus altilis, and its edible produce, have long been a source of food for people living in the Pacific, particularly for those in the north western, central and eastern islands (for a discussion of the variations in the botanical name for breadfruit, see Stone 1974). The tree and its fruit also caught the imagination of the early European explorers in the Pacific ; they wondered at the simplicity of producing such a ' bread ' food, though they were not so impressed by the fermented product, labelling

it ' cheese ' because of its strong smell. Originally a native cultigen, perhaps of eastern Indonesia or western Micronesia (Barrau 1976), the breadfruit tree is now found from inland south-east Asia through to the eastern islands of the Pacific. Its transfer to the Caribbean in a well known historic episode has led to the useful foodstuff being locally available throughout the other half of the tropical world. However, the use of breadfruit has also been spread intensively ; by selective planting of shoots, new varieties have been developed that provide fruit over a wider seasonal base, and also provide fruit with different desirable qualities. Such intensification is also developed by the process of fermentation that converts breadfruit into a paste substance that adds variety of taste and texture as well as a storable substance.

These culturally developed practices have enabled the human population to make use of the fruit almost all year round, and longer (Pollock 1983a). The seedless variety has been more extensively propagated than the seeded variety in the island Pacific. Not only is this beautiful and graceful tree an economic mainstay of the food supply of several particular Pacific societies, but it also lends itself to storage, a practice which is not so suitable for most of the other root and tree starch foods in the Pacific. Thus its versatility was important, particularly in the margins of the Pacific.

The origins of the process of pit fermentation have not yet been clearly established either in place or in time. Kirch (1979 : 303) reports that " archeological evidence for the antiquity of this technique in Polynesia has been claimed in West Polynesia... ". Howe-