The COVID-19 lockdown has ushered in new eating habits amongst villagers on the south coast of Upolu with the sea being visited more and plantation crops now the staple on family menus.

A ride along the coast would find a peaceful day without a stir, except for canoes in the distance, either early morning or mid afternoon. Either way, men and women will be there with their children to collect the catch that the fishermen bring home.

"We catch a lot of akule and people like to eat it raw, sometimes they boil it with water, onions and salt,” Mika Samuelu said.

Mr Samuelu is a married father of three and between them, their main meal is fish as he goes fishing every day. He also has a plantation at the back of his 'umukuka', outside the kitchen and plants mainly taro.

"I go to do some work in the plantation, just at the back of the house, and I also go fishing to make sure we have something to eat." he said. 

Currently employed with a daily job, his wages provide cash for electricity and little things in his household and he also lives a subsistence lifestyle to sustain his family.

"My wife was a little sick so she had to go to the doctors to see if she had COVID-19. She is fine, she only had a slight cold," he said. 

The family of five live on their own piece of land which is well kept by Mr Samuelu and his wife. 

Further from his home, some other villagers go fishing in the middle of the day to catch the bigeye scad.

"People like to eat that these days because it is fresh when the men get it and some old men just enjoy eating it raw," a shopkeeper of the Lalomanu village said. 

An elder villager told the Samoa Observer that ever since lockdown she prefers cooking traditional food like vaisu and fa'alifu fa'i (banana in coconut cream).

"We love our vaisu and our taro or bananas with coconut cream, sometimes I make the supo esi for breakfast (pawpaw with coconut cream),” she said. "Before the lockdown we hardly had this type of food, but now it is all we want to eat, because it is healthier and easier to get.”

Steve Leifi, who looks after his elderly father, told Samoa Observer that his father usually prefers fish, octopus and he gets seafood from the village men who go out fishing. 

He also said that he also makes saka every day which is boiled taro or bananas.

“The old man usually likes the traditional Samoan food but nowadays it is a lot easier because there is always fish to eat," he said.