When you think about eating food in PNG, what kind of meals can you imagine?
PNG not only has traditional food, but also a rich restaurant culture.
Diversity of food in PNG
Fresh fruits and vegetables such as pawpaw, coconuts, banana, mangoes, watermelon, vegetables, seafood, rice, taro etc. are the most traditional foods eaten in PNG.
You will find beautiful juicy local produce at the supermarkets or open air markets! What a blessing!
Most of the best fruits and vegetable come from Goroka in the Highlands province. When people travel to Goroka they always try to bring a lot of fruit and vegetables back with them because they’re so affordable too!
People eat more seafood in coastal cities because they can fish and get fresh seafood like lobster, and tuna!
Even though PNG has a rich supply of natural foods, it still seems difficult to battle westernisation and fast convenient foods such as fried chicken and soft drinks.
PNG has adopted Western food culture very quickly, so people living in the cities are more likely to eat bread, crackers, or pizza with soft drinks.
Also PNG has a lot of influence of Asian culture and there are many Asian restaurants, this means that Chinese, Malaysian and Korean cuisine are gaining in popularity these days!
If you are looking for more traditionally inspired PNG cuisine, The MUMU restaurant is highly recommended!
Health issues in PNG
Like so many other developing countries around the world, PNG people’s food preferences are changing from natural local food to processed foods.
This change in diet is responsible for an increased surge of lifestyle diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
But a lot of people have started to realize that they need to improve their diet and live healthier, so they have started to make better food decisions by trying to consume more natural food.
This is seen as a direct correlation to increased media awareness, and greatly improved health education in schools.
A very positive change for the promotion of a healthy life style in PNG!