A brazen celebration of the food of the Pacific, Eat Pacific edited by Robert Oliver, gleefully displays the vast diversity of the food from 11 Pacific nations, championing local food culture and restoring pride and interest in the region’s food and recipes. The book sits alongside the reality TV cooking competition Pacific Island Food Revolution (on TVNZ+ and YouTube) – which Robert conceptualised and co-hosts – designed to return the region to traditional cuisine in an effort to fix the Pacific’s non-communicable diseases crisis. Robert knew that restoring a local food culture and curbing the appetite for heavily marketed junk food was the answer and the reality TV route was a way to make it relevant, accessible and desirable to a new generation. “It’s all about shining a light on the gorgeous food culture that already exists,” he says.

The book goes even further than the TV show, featuring not only recipes from Sāmoa, Fiji, Tonga and Vanuatu as shown on the show but also contributions from foodies across the wider region. But behind the beaming smiles and joyful national pride of the contributors lies a raft of weighty topics. “‘Local’ food is not only about health,” Robert explains. “It’s about climate change mitigation, food sovereignty, food security and biodiversity.”

Robert notes that you’ve probably been to the Pacific and noticed that there wasn’t much Pacific food on the menu. But he’s noticing a shift to valuing indigenous food more and hopes that the book and the TV show give exposure to its potential and stimulate an emerging strand of food tourism. He tells of Regenerative Vanua, a community-led agritourism business in Vanuatu in which villagers are building bungalows to to house visitors for farm tours and food experiences.

From the start Robert knew that this wasn’t just about food: it was to be an emotional appeal to the hearts and minds of Pacific people to remind them that their food is the best. TRACY WHITMEY

Eat Pacific, $60, Massey University Press