VeganMoFo: Come with me to the South Pacific!

Hoorah! Can't you just hear the waves lapping on the shore of the island? We've come to the end of our Around-The-World-in-30-Days journey, and landed in South Pacific / Polynesia for some recipe inspiration. I wanted to make sure to touch down in most parts of the world, and it would be crazy to skip this enchanting little paradise.

Most of the dinner recipes I found from Polynesian countries had to do with either raw fish or goat meat. Hmmm... hard to veganize. But! All the desserts were mostly just tropical fruit goodies... so I decided to go that route.

I made Tahitian Poe... a banana "pudding," which was dense like bread pudding and tasted like pure bananas. The texture was maybe a tad too dense, so I think I'd probably reduce the arrowroot by a touch next time... but the flavor was really gorgeous. And on top is a glob of coconut cream and a sprinkle of brown sugar. Mmmmm. Nothing personal against my poe, but I'm pretty sure that an old piece of cardboard would taste good with a dollop of coconut cream and a sprinkle of brown sugar! (ps. How funny, but Mandee also made a poe batch... they look identical!)

I was having trouble picking, so I also made a delicious watermelon drink from Tonga called Otai. Mmmmmmmmm! I will definitely make this again... once watermelon season returns to us again. It's got watermelon, crushed pineapple, coconut... man, it was good! It was refreshing and filling and healthy and hearty, somehow all those things at once!

One thing about this global eating we've done... is that I ended up buying things like bananas and canned pineapple, which I'm just not used to. I did my best to stick to local and seasonal ingredients, but it didn't always work out that way. I have really loved discovering so many new flavors and recipes, and I'm also eager to explore recipes from all the many, many countries that I couldn't squeeze in this month. I'm pretty sure that "Where in the World is Vegan Eats and Treats?" will become a regular feature on my blog... there are so many more cuisines to explore!

It's been great traveling with all of you, thanks for coming along, and thanks for reading!

Come back for one more special home-again, home-again post tomorrow!