Your New Family
Papuans like to take time to drink and eat together when they have a ceremony about something or if they have an important guest come to visit their family. It is part of Papuan culture to make guests feel like part of the family. Sitting together and having food to share is an important cultural experience. Wherever you go to have an adventure in Papua, you will be welcome into the family. Usually these families provide traditional food. If you are in the Highlands, the family will share food from a bakar batu (pit roast). This will include vegetables, meat (chicken and or fish) and sweat potatoes. Papuan traditional food, included in the ir traditional pit roast, is: papeda, sago bakar (bake), sago worm, taro, cassava and sweat potatoes. However, each area may have unique traditions and cook in their own style.
Wherever you go on trekking to different tribes in Papua, you will always have the extraordinary experience to get together with local people, sitting and eating together the Papuan traditional food.
If you plan to travel to the Highlands of Papua, you should bring some extra coffee or tea sachets to share as gifts when you share food in their traditional kitchen hut (Honai). Make sure you bring some cigarettes also as gifts, but don’t give them to children. They can be given to the elders and your porters. This is a way to thanks the local people for sharing their tools, their time and their culture. |