Saturday, October 6, 2007

Sam's Mumu





Today I got to watch a mumu preparation. Sam Bennett turned 18 recently and his adopted PNG parents - Simon and Esther - gave him a pig for his birthday. Mumus are a traditional PNG cookout. They are often done at times of celebration, weddings, and other noteworthy events. They are expensive and require a lot of work to put on so it isn't something done everyday. From what I saw today, an over simplification of the steps of having a mumu are 1) dig a pit in the ground 2) line it with banana leaves 3) heat rocks over a fire until they get hot 4) systematically place the rocks on the leaves 5) more banana leaves on top of the rocks 5) add the vegetables which have been peeled and prepared 6) banana leaves and stones 7) the pig and all it's parts with more vegetables around it 8) banana leaves on top which are weaved in such a way that it all stays together 9) let it cook 10) eat. Due to being in a CSection, I didn't actually get to see how it works once the food is done cooking and how they serve it. Everyone enjoyed the food so it must have been good.