VegFest Pasifika, a festival promoting local plant-based diets for health and environmental reasons, came to Samoa for the first time in June.
The festival has been running in Fiji since 2018, with more than 55 events held so far. These include tasting dinners showcasing Pacific fruits, vegetables and crops; vegan markets and food tasting with free health screenings; nutritious cooking demos, movie nights, lifestyle medicine outreach and fun educational kids’ activities.
The festival aims to encourage the switch to whole-food, plant-based diets as a means to address the non-communicable disease (NCD) crisis in the Pacific, while also supporting local agriculture. It also raises awareness about the environmental implications of diets high in animal protein – as plant foods generally have a much lower environmental impact compared to most animal products.
Cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are the leading cause of deaths in the Pacific, accounting for 60 to 75% of mortalities. Dr Paula Vivili, Deputy Director-General at The Pacific Community, recently said NCDs were a “death sentence” for many people because treatments were often not available. In Samoa, recent data states NCDs account for a staggering 81% of all deaths.
VegFest co-founder Ben Czapnik believes that “the festival’s focus on plant-based eating for healthier communities and a healthier planet has taken root in Fiji and is likely to resonate all throughout the region. Following the success of VegFest in Fiji, we decided to take this message on the road to see if we could help others in the region to benefit from increased plant-based foods in their diet.
“We chose Samoa because it already has a vibrant culinary scene, including many chefs and restaurants who currently offer vegan meals. It also has great vegetables and fruits to work with, not to mention some local varieties we don’t find in Fiji. We reached out to potential local partners, including Dora [Rossi, the owner of Milani Caffé in Apia] and Wendy and Steven from the Tiapapata Art Centre, and following their enthusiastic response we were ready to go.”
The VegFest Pasifika initiative aims to create a network of Pacific associations, MSMEs and individuals and start a regional movement advocating for the increased consumption of local plant-based foods. To counter the common assumption that healthy food is not as tasty and exciting, VegFest seeks to show a positive alternative to the vicious cycle of poor diets and poor health: nutritious plant-based diets can be not only beneficial, but also very satisfying.
The highlights of VegFest Samoa were the fine dining vegan dinner prepared by the team at Tiapapata Art Centre and the degustation of decadent plant-based cakes prepared by Dora Rossi.
The 50-person dinner offered a creative, 10-course menu focusing on local wild foods found in Samoa but not commonly used in cooking. The most popular dishes included choko noodles with vegan pesto, lentil moussaka, Lautogotogo salad, sautéed banana blossoms and breadfruit gnocchi with creamed greens.
The owners of Tiapapata Art Centre are strong advocates of healthy eating with local plants due to their “many health benefits including lower rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer”.
Pastry chef Dora Rossi showcased a delicious array of vegan cakes using local plant-based ingredients such as Samoan cacao and fruit. Dora made the switch to a nourishing plant-based diet almost four years ago, to promote her and her family’s health, and she hasn’t looked back: “I feel like my body is the healthiest it has ever been, thanks to my diet. I never feel like I need to count calories or worry about eating too much and I feel fit and trim without exercising excessively.”
Her mouth-watering spread included chocolate cake with siamu popo, papaya cake with coconut crumb topping, carrot and walnut cake, bliss balls and muesli bars. During the event, she explained how she reduced the amount of refined sugars in her cakes by replacing sugar with whole, unprocessed ingredients such as pawpaw, dates and sultanas.
Dora recently added some plant-based options to the menu of her restaurant, Milani Caffè, and the response has been very positive: “I have witnessed numerous patrons genuinely being grateful and happy for healthy, plant-based options at my cafè. Our ‘plant-based’ lunch bowl with spiced chickpeas, avocado, rice, carrots, tomatoes, watercress, cucumber and a lovey tahini dressing is a local favourite. Another popular plant-based goodie is a muesli bar, packed with nutritious nuts, dried fruit and local koko Samoa.”
She encourages other restaurants, cafes and resorts in Samoa to diversify their menus by adding more healthy plant-based options as this could also be a good business decision: “Tourists these days are more health conscious and have an educated palate. It makes business sense to cater for a wider range of dietary requirements.”
VegFest led two diet education sessions at Vaiala Beach School and Vailima Primary School. Furthermore, the schools received a donation of several copies of ‘We Love our Veggies’, a Fijian-designed colouring, activity and recipe book to teach children about nutrition and local vegetables.
The programme also included a healthy cooking class for young kids who prepared nutritious chocolate truffles made mainly from red beans and Samoan cacao.
Organisers hope VegFest Samoa will be even bigger next year, specifically by involving more partners and increasing the variety of events. Czapnik says they are keen to increase “availability of legumes in Samoa (lentils, chickpeas, beans) for people who are keen to reduce the amount of meat in their diet. This will require cultural change – from consumers, supermarkets, restaurants and even decision makers – but hopefully we can help get the trend started.”
VegFest Pasifika is looking to expand further. “We’ve already had discussions with potential partners in New Caledonia for a festival there in 2024. Our aim is to get the message out as much as we can in the region.”
Vittoria Pasca is the co-founder of VegFest and a qualified nutritionist.
