Hangi!

For RMYL 301, we had to do a gigantic class project. As a class, we decided that we wanted to throw a hangi for the branch here and for our homestays. What's a hangi you may ask? Well, hangi is a Maori feast that involves burying a pig, chicken, a ton of veggies and stuffing in the ground, covering it with hot rocks and dirt and then letting it cook for four hours under ground.

On Saturday morning, we all gathered at the church building to prepare the food to be cooked. I was put in charge of making steamed pudding. We had a recipe and all the ingredients sitting on a table in front of us. The only problem was, none of us had any idea what steamed pudding was. But, we set to work following the recipe as closely as possible. Come to find out, steamed pudding is basically spice cake and--it tasted great! That was definitely a relief. That's a sure way to ruin a party--ruin the dessert.

The steamed pudding team! Way to not ruin it girls!

For awhile there, I was pretty sure that the entire hangi was going to flop. We had two dead pigs on the back lawn of the church, peeled and cut vegetables everywhere and fry bread being made by the box load in the kitchen. It was complete chaos for a couple of hours. Much to my surprise, the guests started arriving at about 4pm and the food followed soon after that. And it was a success! Everyone loved it! Hangi food has a very interesting flavor. It tastes like some combination of smoke and dirt. Anyway, most people like it, but I...had sort of a hard time stomaching it. I loved the meat and ate a lot of salads (ones NOT cooked in the ground) but I had a hard time eating the vegetables and the stuffing.

In the end of the day, we had over 100 people there, about three times the number of Polynesians than I've ever seen at church and a TON of food. I think the night was a success. Defnitely the biggest class project that I've ever participated in.