Tahitian national dish: raw tuna marinated in lime and dressed in fresh coconut cream with cucumber and tomato
Origin: Tahiti, French Polynesia
From the journey of Coconut.
Tahiti and the Society Islands are the heartland of Eastern Polynesia: the volcanic archipelago from which, according to the best current archaeological and genetic evidence, the Hawaiian Islands were settled around 800 CE and New Zealand's Māori population descended from migrations around 1280 CE. These are the last great waves of the Polynesian expansion: a process that began in the islands of Melanesia and island Southeast Asia around 1500 BCE and ended with the colonisation of New Zealand, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and Hawaii: the three corners of the Polynesian Triangle, making it the largest geographic cultural zone in human prehistory. The Society Islands were the staging post and the hub. From Tahiti, double-hulled waʻa kaulua (voyaging canoes up to 25 metres long) carried founding populations and their canoe plants; breadfruit, taro, yam, sweet potato, and above all the coconut palm; across thousands of miles of open Pacific. The coconut was more than a food on these voyages: each nut contained a day's worth of water and calories, and a living seedling could be planted at any new landfall to found a food source that would sustain future generations. The Polynesian relationship with the coconut is ancient, intimate, and ceremonial. Coconut oil (monoi) mixed with fragrant flowers was used in Tahitian ritual, medicine, and as a body perfume. The coconut's creation myth in Polynesia; that it grew from the head of the great eel Tuna, who gave his head to the woman Hina as a gift of love; suggests the depth at which the palm is embedded in Polynesian cosmology. Poisson cru ('raw fish' in French; the name reflecting French colonial influence on Tahitian vocabulary since 1842) is the national dish of French Polynesia, eaten daily in homes and at every celebration. It is raw yellowfin tuna (ahi) marinated in fresh lime juice until the exterior turns opaque, then dressed generously with freshly pressed coconut cream and diced cucumber, tomato, and spring onion. The technique of acid-denaturing fish protein likely predates European contact; it requires only lime and coconut, both of which were present before any French or Spanish arrived. The French name and some presentational conventions are colonial; the dish itself is ancient. The fresh coconut cream used in authentic poisson cru is pressed on the day from grated ripe coconuts: a process that produces a cream far richer, fresher, and more intensely flavoured than any canned product. In Tahiti, coconut graters (a half-shell fitted with a serrated metal disc) sit on every kitchen counter, and freshly pressed cream is a daily ingredient rather than a special preparation. The difference between freshly pressed and canned coconut cream in this dish is enormous; if you can obtain a fresh coconut, grate and press it for this recipe.
Poisson cru is the quintessential Pacific dish and should be made and eaten immediately; it does not keep. The quality of both fish and coconut cream are paramount: use the freshest possible fish and, if you can source a whole coconut, grate the flesh and press it through a cloth for fresh cream. The dish is traditionally served at room temperature, never cold. In the Marquesas Islands, a version is made with raw shrimp rather than fish; in Tahiti itself, a version with octopus (marinated longer, for an hour, to tenderise) is popular.
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