How mutton flaps are killing Tonga Featured
19 January, 2016. The Pacific island of Tonga is the most obese country in the world. Up to 40% of the population is thought to have diabetes and life expectancy is falling. One of the main causes is a cheap, fatty kind of meat - mutton flaps - imported from New Zealand.
With a stern expression crossing her face, 82-year-old Papiloa Bloomfield Foliaki almost leaps from her seat to show me something she says, will help me understand.
She comes back into the sitting room of her small hotel in Nuku A'Lofa, Tonga's capital, brandishing a large model of an ancient wooden boat.
"We Tongans rowed here, across thousands and thousands of miles of sea, in boats like these. Then we flipped them over and used the old boats as houses."
She frowns. "But, nobody wants Tongan houses any more, because something Western, something modern, people think is better, people associated Tongan style of homes with poverty. "Just like with our food."
The traditional Tongan diet is fish, root vegetables and coconuts, as you might expect for a palm-fringed island in the middle of the Pacific.
But at some point in the middle of the 20th Century, offcuts of meat began arriving in the Pacific islands - including turkey tails from the US and mutton flaps from New Zealand. They were cheap and became hugely popular.
"People think something imported is superior," says Foliaki, a former nurse, activist and politician, who now works in the hotel business despite being one of few Tongans over the age of 80.
"And you have a situation where fisherman spear their fish - sell it - and go and buy mutton flaps. People don't have the education to know what is bad for their health."
Source: BBC
7 comments
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Te'eki keu sio au ki ha taha Tonga kuo uta 'i ha fokilifi 'o 'ave ki falemahaki hange ko e ngaahi fu'u sisino 'i muli. Koeha kuo 'ave pehe'i atu hotau fonua ni 'o kitautolu.
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MO'ONI LAHI 'A FĀHINA MO T. VAINĪ...Ko hai tene lava 'o ta'ofi 'a e ifó? Ko e ki'i lū-sipi 'i he Sāpate 'oku ifo 'aupito. Ka e ki'i kai fk-fuofua pē, pea 'ai ha lo'i-lesi, pe ko e vai-siaine, mo e ngaahi vesitapolo, mālō Fahina.
'Oku 'ikai ketau lau'i kovi atu 'a e ngaahi me'a tokoni "fast food" 'a mulí. Hangē ko e hamipaka mo e ngaahi kongokonga puaká mo e piipii ngako. Tonu pe ke fk-si'isi'i kae fai mo e ki'i fk-malohisino.
Mo'oni koe Fāhina...'oku kau e me'alele 'i he fk-'ai'ai ketau fk-pikopikó. Na'e katakata'i au 'e he kakaí ko 'eku luelue holo 'i Nuku'alofá; kuo ngeingeia ange 'i Tongá ni ia ketau heka me'alele holo. Fēfē ketau luelue 'o kapau 'oku ofi, pe tetau 'aka pasikala? -
'Oku sai pe foki e kapakapa'i sipi 'iate ia pe, ka ko hono ma'u koee 'o tutu'a 'oku fakatu'utamaki. Ki'i 'ai fakafuofua pe, pea ki'i teletele'i atu e ngako, heu'i'aki ha la'i pele pe la'i lu, moha me'akai palanisi foki. Mo'oni a Mosese, talu 'etau tupu moe kai sipi, ka koe palopalema pe ngaahi 'aho ni koe ma'u 'o lahi, ta'epalanisi e me'atokoni, pea kau lahi foki ki ai moe ma'u me'atokoni he po'uli, tautefito kihe tu'apo 'alu ai ki he hengihengi - taimi faingata'a ia kihe sino ke momosi mo 'ave e me'akai-'ova kihe potu 'oku tonu ke 'ave kiai.
'Io pea 'ave atu e fanga ki'i savea loi fakapiko ia ko eni 'o li he vao he 'oku 'ikai vavevaea a'u e sisino ia 'ae kau Tonga ki he kau 'Amelika ko ena 'oku lau 'e Mokofisi. Ka ma'u fakafe'unga pe sipi ia, palanisi e me'atokoni, pea tanaki atu ki ai moe ngauengaue 'ae sino he fakamalohisino, va'inga, tafi moe hiko veve, 'alu ki 'uta - 'e toe foki pe kakai Tonga ia ki honau sino totonu, 'ae sino lelei moe sino mo'ui lelei.
Taimi ke tau liukava'i 'etau founga ma'u me'atokoni ka tau sino lelei mo mo'ui fuoloa. -
Mokofisi, 'oku kau eni ho'o comment ketau ki'i kata ai 'i he pongipongi ni. Ta 'oku kalasi kehe 'a 'Amelika ia, ka 'oku mahalo 'oku toutou omi ia 'o lele'i ha fanga ki'i savea ke fakatau ki he ngaahi donor ki he Pasifiki, he tamani foki 'e savea totongi 'a 'Amelika na ia he 'oku tu'ulelei pe taha kotoa ia.
Ko e vakai ko e sapate ke lusipi pe kae oomai ia ke ta'ofi ha ha ha! -
Mahalo pe kuo holo e kai sipi ia 'a e fonua he'ene fu'u mamafa pehe ka oku ou tui au ki he lau a Mokofisi. Oku fiema'u ia ke ngaungaue e sino ke tutu'i e fu'u ivi kuo ma'u mei kapakapa'i sipi.. Tau ki'i vakai si'i pe ki he ngaahi kolo he ngaahi 'aho ni.. Kuo fonu me'alele 'a e tu'a falelotu he Sapate he kainga lotu pe 'o e kolo kuo 'ikai pe toe fai ha lue lalo ia ki he lotu koe heka me'alele pe neongo oku miniti pe 'e 5-10 ka fai ha luelue kiai.. Koe kau Kolofo'ou mo Kolomotu'a kuo ikai toe lue mai ia ki loto Nuku'alofa kuopau ke taxi mai ia pe heka me'alele mai pe .. Koia oku ou poupou atu au ke kai pe ia kae tanaki atu ha temata pea mo ha lau'i pele pe lu kae 'ai pe moe luelue ke lahi pe'e ki'i tupe'i pe sino 'I 'uta ... Oku tanaki atu ai pe kiai moe 'ikai ke tau tokanga ke fai ha ki'i sivi mo'ui lelei pe a ka to hake ta'u ki he 50s pea mo talatala he taimi totonu kae 'oua tuku ke toki langa 'aupito pe pea toki talatala.
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MO'ONI KOE MOSESE...Pea 'oku 'ikai ko Tonga 'oku sisino lalahi mo mamafa-taha 'i māmaní. Ko e fakamatala loi ia.
'Osi fk-totolo 'eau ki he ngaahi savea 'a e WHO. Ko Nauru 'oku fika #1, 'oku fika #4 'a Tonga, pea fika #9 'a 'Amelika. 'Oku totonu ke fika #1 'a 'Amelika he 'oku te'eki ai keu mamata 'i Tonga 'i he ngaahi fu'u sino fefeti-taha 'oku ou sio ai 'i 'Ameliká: 'Oku 'alu hifo 'a e ngaahi fo'i keté (fk-tapu atu) ia 'o tau ki he kelekelé e?
Ko e fk-tu'utāmaki 'o 'etau sisinó ko e 'ikai fai ha fk-mālohi sinó. Ua ki aí, 'oku lahiange 'etau ta'e tokanga ki he 'a'ahi ki he toketá ke sivi tu'o ua 'i he ta'u. 'Oku tau toki 'alu 'o talatala mahaki 'i he 'etau puké.
Pea 'oku kei lahi 'etau fk-falala ki he faito'o tuku-fakaholo fk-Tongá. Tānaki ki ai 'etau tui mo e ilifia tēvoló. -
Talu 'etau tupu mo 'etau kai sipi, kuo faka'ataa mai e Sihova e sipi ketau ma'u me'atokoni mei ai. Ko e fanga ki'i lau fakapoto ia koeni, toe ki'i taitaimi atu mo e fakatuta.