Samoa

Banana soup made with coconut milk and tapioca pearls

Sweetened rice with cocoa and coconut milk or evaporated milk

Samoan coconut cookies

Half-moon pies with pineapple custard filling

Sweet coconut buns/rolls

Pineapple custard pie is a dessert made with a creamy filling that includes eggs, sugar, milk, and crushed pineapple, typically baked in a pie crust. It can be served chilled and is often topped with meringue or whipped cream.

Tapioca in coconut caramel

Poi is a traditional Samoan dessert made from mashing fruit into a smooth consistency and mixing in coconut milk and other flavourings. Poi is traditionally prepared from bananas. Ripe bananas are peeled and added to a bowl with the addition of water. The bananas are kneaded along with the water with the hands until it resembled a smooth paste, with coconut cream mixed in. The Poi was served in cups made from coconut shells. In a modern preparation, bananas are blended together along with cold water or ice, coconut milk and flavourings such as vanilla, lemon, lime or sugar in a mechanical blender into a smooth paste, poured into bowls or glasses and left to chill in a fridge for a few hours. Other fruits can replace bananas for poi in a recipe, such as mango which is known as Poi mago.

Mango pudding

Steamed pudding

Banana soup made with coconut milk and tapioca pearls

Coconut water is the clear liquid inside young coconuts (fruits of the coconut palm). In early development, it serves as a suspension for the endosperm of the coconut during the nuclear phase of development. As development continues, the endosperm matures into its cellular phase and deposits into the rind of the coconut pulp. The liquid inside young coconuts is sometimes preferred to the liquid of a ripened coconut. Coconut water from young green coconuts is also known specifically as buko juice in Philippine English. Fresh coconuts are typically harvested from the tree while they are green. A hole may be bored into the coconut to provide access to the "meat" (liquid and pulp). In young coconuts, the liquid and air may be under some pressure and may spray slightly when the inner husk is first penetrated. Coconuts that have fallen to the ground are susceptible to rot and damage from insects or other animals.

Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially available. There are also various coffee substitutes. Typically served hot, coffee has the highest sales in the world market for hot drinks. Coffee production begins when the seeds from coffee cherries are separated to produce unroasted green coffee beans. The "beans" are roasted and then ground into fine particles. Coffee is brewed from the ground roasted beans, which are typically steeped in hot water before being filtered out. It is usually served hot, although chilled or iced coffee is common. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways (e.g., espresso, French press, caffè latte, or already-brewed canned coffee). Sugar, sugar substitutes, milk, and cream are often added to mask the bitter taste or enhance the flavor.

A beverage made from the powdered roots of the kava plant, known for its sedating effects

A hot cocoa beverage using shaved cocoa beans, water and sugar

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and northern Myanmar. Tea is also made, but rarely, from the leaves of Camellia taliensis. After plain water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes. Tea has a stimulating effect in humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the third century AD, in a medical text written by Chinese physician Hua Tuo. It was popularised as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking subsequently spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among the English, who started to plant tea on a large scale in British India.

Pineapple beverage

Vailima is a family of beers brewed in Samoa by Samoa Breweries and is one of Samoa's most popular beers. In July 2022 Samoa Breweries announced it would cease brewing Vailima in Samoa and move production to Fiji. Following public opposition to the move it licensed production of the beer to a Samoan producer in August 2022.

Watermelon drink

Barbecue or barbeque is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that employ live fire and smoke to cook the food. The term is also generally applied to the devices associated with those methods, the broader cuisines that these methods produce, and the meals or gatherings at which this style of food is cooked and served. The cooking methods associated with barbecuing vary significantly but most involve outdoor and indoor cooking. The various regional variations of barbecue can be broadly categorized into those methods which use direct and those which use indirect heating. Indirect barbecues are associated with North American cuisine, in which meat is heated by roasting or smoking over wood or charcoal. These methods of barbecue involve cooking using smoke at low temperatures and long cooking times, for several hours. Elsewhere, barbecuing more commonly refers to the more direct application of heat, grilling of food over hot coals or a gas fire. This technique is usually done over direct, dry heat or a hot fire for a few minutes. Within these broader categorizations are further national and regional differences.

Many species of fish are caught by humans and consumed as food in virtually all regions around the world. Fish has been an important dietary source of protein and other nutrients. The English language does not have a special culinary name for food prepared from fish like with other animals , or as in other languages (such as Spanish pez vs. pescado). In culinary and fishery contexts, fish may include so-called shellfish such as molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms; more expansively, seafood covers both fish and other marine life used as food. Since 1961, the average annual increase in global apparent food fish consumption (3.2 percent) has outpaced population growth (1.6 percent) and exceeded consumption of meat from all terrestrial animals, combined (2.8 percent) and individually (bovine, ovine, porcine, etc.), except poultry (4.9 percent). In per capita terms, food fish consumption has grown from 9.0 kg (19.8 lb) in 1961 to 20.2 kg (45 lb) in 2015, at an average rate of about 1.5 percent per year. The expansion in consumption has been driven not only by increased production, but also by a combination of many other factors, including reduced wastage, better utilization, improved distribution channels and growing consumer demand, linked with population growth, rising disposable incomes and urbanization.

Samoan chicken curry

Cha siu bao is a Cantonese baozi (bun) filled with barbecue-flavored cha siu pork. They are served as a type of dim sum during yum cha and are sometimes sold in Chinese bakeries. There are two major kinds of cha siu bao: the traditional steamed version is called 蒸叉燒包 (pinyin: zhēng chāshāo bāo; Jyutping: zing1 caa1 siu1 baau1; Cantonese Yale: jīng chāsīu bāau) or simply 叉燒包 (chāshāo bāo; caa1 siu1 baau1; chāsīu bāau), while the baked variety is usually called 叉燒餐包 (chāshāo cān bāo; caa1 siu1 caan1 baau1; chāsīu chāan bāau). Steamed cha siu bao has a white exterior, while the baked variety is browned and glazed.

Octopus with coconut cream cooked inside half coconut shells

ʻOta ʻika is a Oceanian dish consisting of raw fish marinated in citrus juice and coconut milk. The Tongan, Tahitian, and Samoan variants are essentially identical in that the raw fish is briefly marinated in lemon or lime juice until the surface of the flesh becomes opaque. The fish is then mixed with coconut milk and diced vegetables . This is the national dish of Tonga. The dish is otherwise known as coconut fish in Nauru, kokoda in Fiji and Papua New Guinea, oka in Samoa, ika mata in the Cook Islands and New Zealand, oraora in Kiribati, and simply poisson cru on the French islands. The word "ota" means "raw" within the Polynesian language group, although the more common term for the dish in French Polynesia is its French equivalent, "poisson cru" (literally, "raw fish"). Any type of seafood can be used to make "ota," the word "ika" means fish ("i'a" in Samoan language), but the dish is often prepared with mussels ("ota pipi/maso"), prawns ("ota ulavai"), crab ("ota pa'a/paka"), lobster ("ota ula"), octopus/squid ("ota fe'e/feke"), sea urchin ("ota vana/tuitui"), and eel ("ota pusi"). A very similar dish are the kinilaw and ata-ata of the Philippines, and its descendant dish, the kelaguen of the Marianas Islands. The poke and lomi salmon of Hawaii are also similar. It is also similar to the Latin American ceviche, though the latter is relatively recent and may be a derivative dish, as citruses are not native to the Americas.

Lūʻau, Luʻau, Laulau, Lū, Rourou, Rukau, Fāfā, Hāhā, and Palusami are all related dishes found throughout Polynesia based on the use of taro leaves as a primary ingredient. While taro generally is known as a root vegetable for its starchy corms, the leaves are consumed as well. The base recipe is vegetarian. Most often, coconut milk was added, and later meat or seafood. The texture of the dish range from a thick soup to a dense cake. Taro is one of the most ancient, cultivated crops. Believed to be native to India and Southeast Asia, taro were carried into the Pacific Islands by Austronesian peoples from around 1300 BC, where they became a staple crop of Polynesians. Although associated as root vegetable, all parts of the taro was utilized. In addition, they brought along with them pigs, chickens, and Polynesian dogs for protein. When the Western navigators arrived, they introduced foods like onions, tomatoes, corned meats and various spices. Colonialism brought with them something that would change Polynesian diets—canned goods, including the highly prized corned beef. Natural disasters brought in food aid from New Zealand, Australia, and the US, then world wars in the mid-20th century, foreign foods became a bigger part of daily diets while retaining ancestral foods like taro and coconuts.

Corned beef and cabbage

Suckling pig cooked in an umu, an earth oven using hot stones

Chop suey is a dish from American Chinese cuisine and other forms of overseas Chinese cuisine, generally consisting of meat (usually chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or fish) and eggs, cooked quickly with vegetables such as bean sprouts, cabbage, and celery, and bound in a starch-thickened sauce. It is typically served with rice, but can become the Chinese-American form of chow mein with the substitution of stir-fried noodles for rice. Chop suey has become a prominent part of American Chinese cuisine, British Chinese cuisine, Filipino Chinese cuisine, Canadian Chinese cuisine, Thai Chinese cuisine, Indian Chinese cuisine, and Polynesian cuisine. In Chinese Indonesian cuisine it is known as cap cai (tjap tjoi) (雜菜, "mixed vegetables") and mainly consists of vegetables. Chop suey is widely believed to have been developed in the U.S. by Chinese Americans. However, the anthropologist E. N. Anderson traces the dish to tsap seui (杂碎, "miscellaneous leftovers"), common in Taishan, Guangdong (Toisan) – the home of many early Chinese immigrants to the United States. Hong Kong doctor Li Shu-fan likewise reported that he knew it in Toisan in the 1890s.

Seafood is any form of sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of molluscs , crustaceans (e.g. shrimp, crabs, and lobster), and echinoderms (e.g. sea cucumbers and sea urchins). Historically, marine mammals such as cetaceans (whales and dolphins) as well as seals have been eaten as food, though that happens to a lesser extent in modern times. Edible sea plants such as some seaweeds and microalgae are widely eaten as sea vegetables around the world, especially in Asia. Seafood is an important source of (animal) protein in many diets around the world, especially in coastal areas. Semi-vegetarians who consume seafood as the only source of meat are said to adhere to pescetarianism.

Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some are found in freshwater. In addition, a few species of land crabs are eaten, for example Cardisoma guanhumi in the Caribbean. Shellfish are among the most common food allergens. Despite the name, shellfish are not fish. Most shellfish are low on the food chain and eat a diet composed primarily of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Many varieties of shellfish, and crustaceans in particular, are actually closely related to insects and arachnids; crustaceans make up one of the main subphyla of the phylum Arthropoda. Molluscs include cephalopods and bivalves (clams, oysters), as well as gastropods (aquatic species such as whelks and winkles; land species such as snails and slugs).

Fish soup

Chicken wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in an umu

A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: 50 cm or 1.6 ft, weight: 1.8 kg or 4 lb) up to the Atlantic bluefin tuna (max length: 4.6 m or 15 ft, weight: 684 kg or 1,508 lb[citation needed]), which averages 2 m (6.6 ft) and is believed to live up to 50 years. Tuna, opah, and mackerel sharks are the only species of fish that can maintain a body temperature higher than that of the surrounding water. An active and agile predator, the tuna has a sleek, streamlined body, and is among the fastest-swimming pelagic fish – the yellowfin tuna, for example, is capable of speeds of up to 75 km/h (47 mph). Greatly inflated speeds can be found in early scientific reports and are still widely reported in the popular literature.

Coconut rice is a dish prepared by cooking white rice in coconut milk or coconut flakes. As both the coconut and the rice-plant are commonly found in the tropics all around the world, coconut rice too, is found in many cultures throughout the world. It spans across the equator from Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, South America, Central America, West Africa, East Africa, the Caribbean and Oceania. Rice cooked in coconut milk is common in Indonesian cuisine, with each region having developed their own version of it. Plain coconut rice is usually made from white rice, coconut milk, ginger, fenugreek seed, lemongrass and pandan leaves, with the most common coconut rice recipe in Indonesia being nasi uduk from Jakarta. Other coconut milk rice recipes include nasi gurih from Aceh and Javanese nasi liwet. Nasi kuning is Indonesian yellow rice which is similar to coconut rice with addition of turmeric as a coloring and flavoring agent. Other types of coconut rice recipes take the form of dumplings, such as burasa from Makassar and lemang popular in Minangkabau.

Manihot esculenta, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca , is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions as an annual crop for its edible starchy tuberous root. Cassava is predominantly consumed in boiled form, but substantial quantities are processed to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, which is used for food, animal feed, and industrial purposes. The Brazilian farofa, and the related garri of West Africa, is an edible coarse flour obtained by grating cassava roots, pressing moisture off the obtained grated pulp, and finally drying it (and roasting in the case of both farofa and garri). Cassava is the third-largest source of carbohydrates in food in the tropics, after rice and maize, making it an important staple; more than 500 million people depend on it. It offers the advantage of being exceptionally drought-tolerant, and able to grow productively on poor soil. The largest producer is Nigeria, while Thailand is the largest exporter of cassava starch.

The coconut tree is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus Cocos. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which botanically is a drupe, not a nut. They are ubiquitous in coastal tropical regions and are a cultural icon of the tropics. The coconut tree provides food, fuel, cosmetics, folk medicine and building materials, among many other uses. The inner flesh of the mature seed, as well as the coconut milk extracted from it, forms a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits because their endosperm contains a large quantity of an almost clear liquid, called "coconut water" or "coconut juice". Mature, ripe coconuts can be used as edible seeds, or processed for oil and plant milk from the flesh, charcoal from the hard shell, and coir from the fibrous husk. Dried coconut flesh is called copra, and the oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cooking – frying in particular – as well as in soaps and cosmetics. Sweet coconut sap can be made into drinks or fermented into palm wine or coconut vinegar. The hard shells, fibrous husks and long pinnate leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decoration.

Coleslaw or cole slaw , also known simply as slaw, is a side dish consisting primarily of finely shredded raw cabbage with a salad dressing or condiment, commonly either vinaigrette or mayonnaise. This dish originated in the Netherlands in the 18th century. Coleslaw prepared with vinaigrette may benefit from the long lifespan granted by pickling. Coleslaw has evolved into various forms globally. The only consistent ingredient in coleslaw is raw cabbage, while other ingredients and dressings vary widely. Some popular variations include adding red cabbage, pepper, shredded carrots, onions, grated cheese, pineapple, pears, or apples, and using dressings like mayonnaise or cream. The term "coleslaw" arose in the 18th century as an anglicisation of the Dutch term koolsla ("kool" in Dutch sounds like "cole") meaning "cabbage salad". The "cole" part of the word ultimately derives from the Latin caulis, meaning cabbage.

A savory coconut sauce for starchy root crops (taro, yams, potatoes, cassava, ta'amu), ulu (breadfruit), fa'i mata (green bananas)

Taro in fa'alifu sauce

Breadfruit in fa'alifu sauce

Coconut or pumpkin bread

Fa'apapa (coconut or pumpkin bread) covered in coconut caramel sauce

Green bananas, often prepared in a savory coconut sauce.

A lime is a citrus fruit, which is typically round, lime green in colour, 3–6 centimetres in diameter, and contains acidic juice vesicles. There are several species of citrus trees whose fruits are called limes, including the Key lime (Citrus aurantiifolia), Persian lime, kaffir lime, finger lime, blood lime, and desert lime. Limes are a rich source of vitamin C, are sour, and are often used to accent the flavours of foods and beverages. They are grown year-round. Plants with fruit called "limes" have diverse genetic origins; limes do not form a monophyletic group. The term lime originated in other languages (from French lime, from Arabic līma, from Persian līmū, 'lemon').

A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree Mangifera indica. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. M. indica has been cultivated in South and Southeast Asia since ancient times resulting in two types of modern mango cultivars: the "Indian type" and the "Southeast Asian type". Other species in the genus Mangifera also produce edible fruits that are also called "mangoes", the majority of which are found in the Malesian ecoregion. Worldwide, there are several hundred cultivars of mango. Depending on the cultivar, mango fruit varies in size, shape, sweetness, skin color, and flesh color, which may be pale yellow, gold, green, or orange. Mango is the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines, while the mango tree is the national tree of Bangladesh.

Sweet and sour coconut sauce for seafood, taro, ulu (breadfruit)

Hot and sour coconut condiment, made with coconut cream, chili peppers, lemon juice, onions and salt, used with seafood, salad, taro, ulu (breadfruit)

Palola viridis, commonly known as the palolo worm, Samoan palolo worm, balolo, wawo, or nyale, is a Polychaeta species from the waters of some of the Pacific islands, including Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, and the islands of the maritime Southeast Asia (which are part of Indonesia, Timor-Leste and the Philippines ). Reproduction involves mass spawning at night in spring or early summer (October – November in the Southern Hemisphere). The terminal parts of their bodies drop off and float over the surface of the water, releasing sperm and eggs. The mechanisms or triggers which induce spawning such that it occurs during nights of a waning moon, continuing for several nights, are not completely known. Exposure to sunlight destroys this "tail" part of the worm's body afterwards. In Fiji, the palolo worms' rising is preceded by the descent of a local red land crab to the sea the same night. In Samoa a crab known as mali'o also descends to the sea around the time when palolo rises. Other sea creatures such as sharks and fishes come to spawn during the event.

Round deep-fried pancakes or fritters

The potato is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.

Potato salad is a salad dish made from boiled potatoes, usually containing a dressing and a variety of other ingredients such as boiled eggs and raw vegetables. It is usually served as a side. Potato salad is found in several countries in Europe. The German Kartoffelsalat is one of the most famous that spread largely throughout Europe, North America, and later Asia. American potato salad most likely originated from recipes brought to the U.S. by way of German and other European immigrants during the nineteenth century.

Rice is a cereal grain and in its domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa —or, much less commonly, Oryza glaberrima (African rice). Asian rice was domesticated in China some 13,500 to 8,200 years ago; African rice was domesticated in Africa about 3,000 years ago. Rice has become commonplace in many cultures worldwide; in 2021, 787 million tons were produced, placing it fourth after sugarcane, maize, and wheat. Only some 8% of rice is traded internationally. China, India, and Indonesia are the largest consumers of rice. A substantial amount of the rice produced in developing nations is lost after harvest through factors such as poor transport and storage. Rice yields can be reduced by pests including insects, rodents, and birds, as well as by weeds, and by diseases such as rice blast. Traditional rice polycultures such as rice-duck farming, and modern integrated pest management seek to control damage from pests in a sustainable way. Many varieties of rice have been bred to improve crop quality and productivity. Biotechnology has created Green Revolution rice able to produce high yields when supplied with nitrogen fertiliser and managed intensively. Other products are rice able to express human proteins for medicinal use; flood-tolerant or deepwater rice; and drought-tolerant and salt-tolerant varieties. Rice is used as a model organism in biology.

Edible seaweed, or sea vegetables, are seaweeds that can be eaten and used for culinary purposes. They typically contain high amounts of fiber. They may belong to one of several groups of multicellular algae: the red algae, green algae, and brown algae. Seaweeds are also harvested or cultivated for the extraction of polysaccharides such as alginate, agar and carrageenan, gelatinous substances collectively known as hydrocolloids or phycocolloids. Hydrocolloids have attained commercial significance, especially in food production as food additives. The food industry exploits the gelling, water-retention, emulsifying and other physical properties of these hydrocolloids. Most edible seaweeds are marine algae whereas most freshwater algae are toxic. Some marine algae contain acids that irritate the digestion canal, while others can have a laxative and electrolyte-balancing effect. Most marine macroalgae are nontoxic in normal quantities, but members of the genus Lyngbya are potentially lethal. Typically, poisoning is caused by eating fish which have fed on Lyngbya or on other fish which have done so; this is called ciguatera poisoning. Handling Lyngbya majuscula can also cause seaweed dermatitis. Some species of Desmarestia are highly acidic, with vacuoles of sulfuric acid that can cause severe gastrointestinal disorders. Seaweeds are used extensively as food in coastal cuisines around the world, particularly in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. Edible seaweeds are especially prominent in the cuisines of China, Japan, Korea, the Philippines, and Hawaii. Seaweeds are also traditionally consumed in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka, as well as in the islands of Micronesia, Melanesia, and Polynesia. The Māori people of New Zealand traditionally used a few species of red and green seaweed, Several species are also eaten by Indigenous Australians.

The sweet potato or sweetpotato is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoots and leaves are sometimes eaten as greens. Cultivars of the sweet potato have been bred to bear tubers with flesh and skin of various colors. Sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato (Solanum tuberosum), both being in the order Solanales. Although darker sweet potatoes are often referred to as "yams" in parts of North America, the species is even more distant from the true yams, which are monocots in the order Dioscoreales. The sweet potato is native to the tropical regions of South America in what is present-day Ecuador. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, I. batatas is the only crop plant of major importance—some others are used locally (e.g., I. aquatica "kangkong" as a green vegetable), but many are poisonous. The genus Ipomoea that contains the sweet potato also includes several garden flowers called morning glories, but that term is not usually extended to I. batatas. Some cultivars of I. batatas are grown as ornamental plants under the name tuberous morning glory, and used in a horticultural context. Sweet potatoes can also be called yams in North America. When soft varieties were first grown commercially there, there was a need to differentiate between the two. Enslaved Africans had already been calling the 'soft' sweet potatoes 'yams' because they resembled the unrelated yams in Africa. Thus, 'soft' sweet potatoes were referred to as 'yams' to distinguish them from the 'firm' varieties.

Startchy root crop

Taro is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and petioles. Taro corms are a food staple in African, Oceanic, East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian cultures (similar to yams). Taro is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants.[citation needed] The English term taro was borrowed from the Māori language when Captain Cook first observed Colocasia plantations in New Zealand in 1769. The form taro or talo is widespread among Polynesian languages: taro in Tahitian; talo in Samoan and Tongan; kalo in Hawaiian; taʻo in Marquesan. All these forms originate from Proto-Polynesian *talo, which itself descended from Proto-Oceanic *talos (cf. dalo in Fijian) and Proto-Austronesian *tales (cf. taleus in Sundanese & tales in Javanese). However, irregularity in sound correspondences among the cognate forms in Austronesian suggests that the term may have been borrowed and spread from an Austroasiatic language perhaps in Borneo (cf. proto-Mon-Khmer *t2rawʔ, Khasi shriew, Khmu sroʔ, Mlabri kwaaj,...).

Breadfruit is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family (Moraceae) believed to be a domesticated descendant of Artocarpus camansi originating in New Guinea, the Maluku Islands, and the Philippines. It was initially spread to Oceania via the Austronesian expansion. It was further spread to other tropical regions of the world during the Colonial Era. British and French navigators introduced a few Polynesian seedless varieties to Caribbean islands during the late 18th century. Today it is grown in 90 countries throughout South and Southeast Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean, Central America and Africa. Its name is derived from the texture of the moderately ripe fruit when cooked, similar to freshly baked bread and having a potato-like flavor. The trees have been widely planted in tropical regions, including lowland Central America, northern South America, and the Caribbean. In addition to the fruit serving as a staple food in many cultures, the light, sturdy timber of breadfruit has been used for outriggers, ships, and houses in the tropics.