CONTEMPORARY
by
FOOD
MATTERS
Author:
James
Colquhoun
[One of the Tikopia' story
that matters now is as
follows], a few thousand
years ago, four chiefs on
the island got together to
discuss a big challenge
they were facing on the
island - pigs.
[This lines are only about
Tikopia], in their culture,
pigs were a status symbol.
They were collected and
eaten for ceremonial as
well as nutritional
purposes.The problem
that the chiefs were
noticing was that these
pigs were consuming a
considerable amount of
food which could have
been utilized for other
purposes, such as feeding
it directly to humans. This
led to a shortage of food
on the island. The chiefs
realized that getting rid of
the pigs on the island was
a necessary change. This
decision went against
their culture but they
knew their survival
depended on it. They
slowly transitioned from
consuming pigs as a
staple in their diet to
eating more plants and
finding additional protein
from the ocean.
Along with this change,
they put an end to slash
and burn agriculture. This
style of agriculture meant