For Tongan chef and caterer Heimoana Ali, her culinary world has broadened with new and exciting opportunities and avenues for growth thanks to newly acquired skills she attained whilst attending the Pacific Culinary Training workshop in Nadi, Fiji in ea
Moana, as she is more commonly known, joined 20 regional chefs at a week-long training workshop aimed at encouraging the use of local foods in cuisine, promoting creativity in food preparation and working with local communities to facilitate the supply of fresh and high-quality produce.
The workshop was a joint collaboration between two European Union supported regional programmes – the Pacific Regional Tourism Capacity Building Programme (PRTCBP), implemented by the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), and the Pacific Agriculture Policy Programme of Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC).
Additional partners include, the School of Tourism and Hospitality Management-USP, College of Business, Hospitality and Tourism Studies – Fiji National University (FNU).
Since returning to the Tongan capital, Nukualofa, where Moana runs a catering business, she has been quick to use recipes and techniques she learned whilst at the workshop.
“I am working on reviewing my menu to adjust many things to improve for the better. I have also started to share the skills and experiences I got from the training”, Moana enthusiastically remarked. “I have also done caterings for the Prime Minister and the deputy Prime Minister as well as government ministers and the biggest highlight was the soursop pie.
However, I modified the recipe by using my own pie base and I have since been very busy with many pie orders. Good thing is, it is in season now”, she added.
Moana learned the soursop pie recipe from celebrity New Zealand chef, Colin Chung, whom with countryman chef, Robert Oliver and Fijian chef, Shailesh Naidu, imparted their skills and knowledge to the 20 chefs during the workshop.
“I have also been invited by the Ministry of Agriculture to go to the outer islands to facilitate a two-day chefs’ competition in each of the islands. The winners will display their dishes at the agricultural show in August. This competition will emphasize the use of healthy local produce and food”, she continued.
Moana is spearheading the competition using cooking ingredients and stock from her own catering business to kick-start the competition.
“I feel honored to be asked to run this competition and it is something that I have wanted to do for a while. This way I am able to impart more knowledge on innovative ways to cook locals foods as well as encourage our local chefs to use more local foods in their menus”, she added.
“I am also catering for the first time for the King and Queen of Tonga during the Royal Agriculture Show and I really want to cook the best of Tongan local foods using our own local ingredients and I am honored to be given this opportunity”, she said.
“I have also reached out to the network of chefs that trained with me in Fiji to help me with some of their innovative ideas”, she added.
SPTO Chief Executive Ilisoni Vuidreketi has praised Moana’s efforts saying, “it is encouraging to see these kinds of results from the training that was conducted recently and is indicative of how innovative local food menus are in high demand not only from tourists but local people.”
“The European Union is pleased with Heimoana Ali’s achievements and the role that the two EU-supported initiatives, PRTCBP and PAPP played in drawing out her success. We look forward to similar impacts from these initiatives” said Gediminas Varanavicius, Charge d’Affaires of the EU Delegation for the Pacific.
The Pacific Culinary Training workshop attended by Moana was SPTO’s contribution to the Pacific Community Agritourism Week that was held at the Sofitel Resort Fiji in Nadi recently.