These roots remain

by Nancy J. Pollock

Here is a broad survey of the eleven main starch foods of Polynesia and Micronesia that draws together previously scattered information and explores both explicit and implicit expressions of food habits associated with these staples. This study addresses the question of South Pacific peoples retaining their cultural and dietary attachment to traditional food sources despite Westernization. Why does the use of root and tree starches such as taro, yams, and breadfruit persist despite the availability of other foods? What in fact are the local concepts of food and the values attached to it? Using approaches of symbolic anthropology, social ecology, and household economy, Nancy J. Pollock explores the values of food beyond the Western concept - as a collection of energy inputs the individual body needs to function - to establish the broader role food plays in the world view of certain Pacific Island societies - that of a symbol of power and well-being that structures social life. The autho