How Did Polynesians Drink Eat Sailing?

Polynesian navigation, or wayfinding, has been used for thousands of years to enable long voyages across the Pacific Ocean. Polynesians made contact with nearly every island within the vast Polynesian Triangle using outrigger canoes or double-hulled canoes. The Polynesians preserved most of their meals by drying or fermenting either raw or cooked food, making them compact, light, nutritious, and almost spoilage-free. In the 1970s, the Polynesian Voyaging Society built and launched a Polynesian voyaging canoe with the intention of sailing it from Hawai‘i to Tahiti using kai moana (sea food).

Sailing through the Pacific was still dangerous at times, and there are stories of food’s essential role throughout history. A compelling culinary legacy has developed throughout Polynesia, a tapestry of a thousand islands. Polynesian sails were the apex-down triangular sail, claw-shaped or crab-claw sails, and the lateen or triangular sail secured to two long booms. Sails were usually made from woven pandanus leaves.

As an island became overpopulated, navigators were sent out to sail uncharted seas to find undiscovered islands. For weeks, they would live aboard boats made from wood and lashings of braided braided. Polynesians spread across the Pacific Ocean using canoes they built, which had to have a strong hull and sail to travel across the ocean. Coconuts served as both food and drink, and water was stored in gourds and sections of bamboo.

The ability of traditional Polynesians navigators and sailors to locate sources of fresh drinking water both coastal and offshore allowed them to make the journey more enjoyable. The canoe carries bottled fresh water for cooking, and people had to eat government-supplied rice without coconut or sweets.