Nauruan Recipes

Nauru is a single raised coral island with thin soil, so the traditional diet came from the coconut palm, the pandanus tree and the ocean. Fish, especially tuna, was caught by net, rod and spear and eaten raw, grilled or cooked in coconut milk. Coconut supplied milk, cream, water and toddy, and ripe pandanus fruit was eaten as a sweet food. Phosphate mining brought wealth and imported food, and rice, flour, canned goods, noodles and Chinese-style stir-fries became common. Most supplies arrive by ship, so cooking relies on shelf-stable ingredients as well as fish and coconut. Coconut fish, raw tuna dressed in coconut milk, appears on menus and at home. Banana and coconut cake is baked for Christmas, and heavily sweetened iced coffee with milk is the national drink. Meals are casual and shared, and flavors are mild and sweet or salty rather than hot.

Staple ingredients

• tuna and reef fish
• coconut milk
• coconut
• pandanus fruit
• bananas
• rice
• canned goods
• noodles

• Appetizers 1
• Desserts 1
• Drinks 1

Appetizers

• Coconut Fish (Nauruan Raw Tuna in Coconut Milk)NR15 minEasy

Desserts

• Banana and Coconut Cake (Nauruan Christmas Cake)NR1 h 20 minEasy

Drinks

• Nauruan Iced Coffee (Sweet Milk Coffee over Ice)NR10 minEasy