Is it a country or is it not? Cook Islands is a South Pacific nation of 15 islands in a free association with New Zealand, so some would not consider it sovereign but in the end, it is self-governing with its own distinct culture and foreign policy, custom regulations and defence. The official name in Cook Islands Māor is Kūki ‘Āirani which is a transliteration of “Cook Islands”. It has a fascinating history and great food. After the underwhelming RoC stop, this one was great, albeit short. 

But first, as always, food.

The Islands Party: the Cook Islands 

Sometimes the Virtual Nomad stops combine countries, just out of convenience for chefs and visitors involved. We decided to organise an Islands Afternoon Party to celebrate both Comoros (see a Virtual Nomad Comoros entry) and the Cook Islands which although quite different, both are island states composed of several islands and that is a good enough coincidence to host a garden party for these two. On a wonderful, slightly overcasted, early autumn afternoon we invite Virtual Nomads to the garden party and in the end twenty people show up. Most of the attendees have been to at least one or two food stops before but we also have two newbies in the group, one brought by my lovely friend AR (her first stop was Colombia). AR’s friend is actually my work colleague which was a nice surprise. And the other newbie is my son A’s (11) young friend.

As I was in charge of the Comoros food, other Virtual Nomads brought dishes from the Cook Islands. They are all quite amazing and super yummy. The Cook Islands are famous for the curry – and because the Cook Islands menu is an open invitation one (meaning this time Virtual Nomads were not assigned a menu item), we end up having two different chicken curries, both from seasoned Virtual Nomads. AK brings the one in the middle photo, and JD the one on the left. They are both well equipped in curries, and both have done a splendid job.

Migration has influenced the Cook Islands local cuisine over time, and Asian migration particularly has introduced diverse spices and cooking techniques. Spices such as curry powder, garam masala, herbs and turmeric are often combined with more tropical ingredients such as coconut. Chicken is commonly available in the islands, which has made chicken curry a popular, convenient and familiar dish. Chicken Curry has also been said to reflect the cultural blending of the Cook Islands; mixing together many local flavours and traditions to the point that it becomes a solid and hybrid element of the local culture.

My lovely Colombian friend TAV (who was in charge of the splendid Colombian Afternoon) and her family bring a dish called Mainese or more colloquially a Pink Potato Salad to the Islands Garden Party. It is a laborious salad to make but TAV is a masterful cook; it’s fresh and incredibly tasty. Mainese is a traditional salad dish that is typical especially in Rarotonga. It usually includes potatoes, carrots, beetroot (that gives the pink colour to the salad), eggs and other vegetables such as cucumbers or celery – and at times corned beef or tinned fish. The salad dressing is mostly mayonnaise.
According to several sources on food history, Mainese cannot be credited to one sole inventor but it is considered as a community-developed dish. By no means is it an ancient dish; it emerged sometime around the 1940s-1960s when European influence in the cuisine became stronger and canned foods started to be available. Just like with the chicken curry, the locals started to blend imported ingredients with locally available products. At the beginning, it was not a cheap dish as many of the imported products (mayonnaise, corned beef, beetroot) were expensive. It has become a ‘must-have’ in many family events and celebrations.

Umu/Umukai is not a dish itself, but a way of preparing food in a hot oven (usually underground) . The food itself is wrapped in banana leaves which makes the result very tender. My lovely neighbour PH used to have a restaurant and is a great chef. He arrives at the party later so those still there have the privilege to enjoy his amazing cooking; tender meat with vegetables in a banana leaf and really masterfully made. He accompanies that with small fish smoked in sea salt. Meats used in the way of Umukai can be anything from pork and chicken to fish mixed with local vegetables (breadfruit, cassava, sweet potato etc.). Umukai is one of the oldest continuous cooking traditions in the Pacific dating back to the ancestors of Cook Islanders from Eastern Polynesia. They brought the earth-oven cooking practice to the islands, similar to other practices around the Pacific (called Imu in Hawai‘i, Hāngī in Aotearoa New Zealand). It worked in islands that might not have an abundance of mechanical tools but rather volcanic stones, banana leaves and coconuts. In today’s Cook Islands, Umukai is practiced in more ceremonial events as modern technology has made cooking faster.

We also enjoy Banana Pudding Poke Cake served on a banana leaf.

Kūki ‘Āirani

The first settlers on the Cook Islands were Polynesian voyagers from different islands (Tahiti, Samoa, etc.) first settling in Rarotonga, and Maori ancestors who travelled in Vakas (large double-hulled canoes). The Cook Islands official website states that 87% of Cook Islanders are Polynesian Cook Island Maori. 

Travellers from Europe started to arrive in the 1500s as Spanish explorers sighted some of the islands. The Islands are named after Captain James Cook who landed in Manuae in 1773 and visited several islands 1773-77. In the 1820s the Christian missionaries arrived and their impact on the local culture was heavy. Christianity spread from island to island, and while the missionaries prohibited practices such as dancing, drumming and singing, the local culture survived and gradually island traditions were blended with Christianity. 

The islands were named Cook Islands in 1823 (previously known as Hervey Isles) and in 1888 they became part of the British Dominion, a move that was intended to block the French influence in the region. In 1901, the Islands’ administration was moved to New Zealand despite the opposition from local chiefs (each island had their own chief system). In 1965, Cook Islands became a self-governing state in free association with Aotearoa New Zealand. Cook Islands is in charge of its domestic policy and some foreign policy, while Aotearoa New Zealand is in charge of defence. This gives the Cook Islanders automatic New Zealand citizenship. In 2024, Prime Minister Mark Brown asked for Cook Islanders to have a separate passport while also retaining the Aotearoa New Zealand citizenship. This was rejected by Aotearoa New Zealand on the basis that Cook Islands cannot have its own passport unless it becomes fully independent. 

Today around 100,000 Cook Islanders live in Aotearoa New Zealand while the population on the islands is about 15,000. 

The Cook Islands has fifteen islands, with two main groups: the Southern Group (Rarotonga, Aitutaki, Mangaia, Atiu, Mauke, Mitiaro, Manuae, Takutea, Palmerston.) and the Northern Group (Penrhyn (Tongareva), Manihiki, Rakahanga, Pukapuka, Nassau, Suwarrow.). The Islands have three languages: Cook Islands Māori (with several dialects), Pukapukan (spoken in Pukapuka) and English. The capital is Avarua, located on the most populated island Rarotonga. 

Miss Ulysses from Puka-Puka

I absolutely loved Miss Ulysses from Puka-Puka: The Autobiography of a Sea Trader’s Daughter by Florence (Johnny) Frisbie. It is the first book ever written by a Pacific Islander woman and is based on the diaries of Johnny when she was 12-14 years old – and published in 1948 when she was 15. It is an absolutely delightful, vibrant and simple but joyful description of life in remote atolls and islands in the Pacific. It is written in a youthful and dynamic way through the lens of a child and how she observes the life around her. She travels around the Pacific with her father and three siblings and puts so much delicious energy in telling about growing up in Puka Puka (​​A remote atoll in the northern group of the Cook Islands, also formerly known as Danger Island) and learning how to survive in a demanding environment from an early age. She accompanies her father on travels and lives with the family in remote atolls, and describes her visits to Fiji and Samoa. 

The book is remarkable in that it is, what has been said “one of the earliest insider accounts of Polynesian island life written in English.” Johnny herself is the daughter of Robert Dean Frisbie who was an American author and trader who settled in Puka Puka with his local wife Ngatokoraa. Johnny writes in her diary about her childhood in the atoll with family, describing also the local customs, culture, celebrations, gender roles and how the community worked at that time. Someone stealing a wife for themselves was not a big deal, and children are left to roam independently from an early age. This helps Johnny and her siblings survive a 1942 cyclone  later in the book, a terrifying and traumatic event. Johnny talks a lot about her family; her American father who educates the kids and encourages them to write, her Puka Pukan mother who is gentle and loving, and on her deathbed makes her husband promise to keep the children together after her death (contrary to the Puka-Pukan tradition in which children should never live with a single father), and her four siblings (three of whom she shares a lot of time with and one brother in a boarding school). 

Johnny wrote a sequel to her first book, published in 1959, The Frisbies of the South Seas and there is a fascinating documentary about her returning to Puka Puka in 2021 The Island in Me. 

Stranded pearl 

There are not many locally made or produced feature films from the Cook Islands. One of the first is a 2024 feature film Stranded Pearl that made its way to international film festival circuits and in-flight entertainment in the Pacific. It is wonderful to see that it is currently available (2025) on some platforms which makes this pioneer movie from the Cook Islands more accessible for international audiences. 

Stranded Pearl (2024) by Ken Khan & Prashanth Gunasekaran and produced by the leading actor Anand Naidu is a lighthearted romantic comedy with gorgeous landscape and a silly plot. Filmed in Rarotonga, the movie almost serves as a travelling advertisement for the beautiful locations. The plot itself does not offer anything new; girl (entitled, rich brat) ends up on an island and meets boy (skillful but nervous native). Locations are great, the characters do not seem overly traumatised or desperate. While the story is silly and acting a bit clumsy, there is a lot of heart put into the movie making. A lot of local people were involved in the filming and production, which brings an ounce of authenticity to it. This said, it is not remarkable in dramatic terms. There are moments that are exaggerated that makes the audience think this was tongue-in-cheek deliberate. Nevertheless, it has its own charm and the location shots are beyond gorgeous. 

Apart from the fiction film Stranded Pearl, there are a few interesting documentaries available, and I choose to watch a 2022 documentary short Taonga: An Artist Activist by Glenda Tuaine on Michael Tavioni, a Cook Islands artist in his 70s who says that for him, art represents being next to god. Michael, or Mike, is a painter, poet, writer, cultural leader, canoe builder and traditional navigator. He is considered to be a master and protector of traditional cultural knowledge and has spent most of his life preserving, teaching, and revitalizing traditional Māori Kūki ‘Āirani arts. It is an interesting portrayal of Mike and gives a lot of space to his thoughts and practice. With his wife Tepaeru Maiata Tavioni, he founded Tavioni Arts in Rarotonga – a creative hub where they teach traditional arts and tattoo symbolism.

Next stop: Costa Rica

Thank you beautiful L for your proof reading!