mutant ninja dinner

As I ripped off a piece of turtle intestine to gnaw on, I thought back to all the times as a kid when I was too squeamish to eat lima beans and cauliflower.  Not that I was extremely enthusiastic about this endeavor – don’t give me too much credit – but I think that I’ve come a long way.  This culinary opportunity came as the result of a spear-fishing trip that my host dad, Eksel, came home from late last night.  “Scott, turtle! Turtle!” I rushed to the backyard expecting to see a box turtle crawling around playfully and instead, I am greeted by an enormous sea turtle barely being restrained by two teenage boys.  This is a creature that I’ve only ever seen in aquariums before, and now one of them is walking around in the backyard as giggling children jump out of its way.  On top of that, I find out that we’re going to eat it the next day!  

Jaymore and Nadaniel holding back the turtle.

I actually don't like this picture because I feel like I can almost see into its eyes and experience what it is feeling.  But, I included it for the same reason.

Don’t get me wrong, I felt an immense sadness for this beautiful creature that was probably going through the most traumatic experience possible.  But this is the island of Pohnpei, where there are vegetarians and there are Micronesians.  So I kept these feelings to myself and joined in the excitement that is inherent to the act of tying up your dinner so that it doesn’t escape overnight.  I’ve heard stories about the treatment of turtles in the Pacific.  Most notably, in the Marshall Islands, they are sometimes kept alive on their backs for many days in the hot sun; because if they are killed immediately, the meat will spoil.  Furthermore, they often meet their unfortunate end when children jump on their bellies.  I only bring this up to highlight the relative beneficence and humanity that was bestowed upon our turtle.  Under the circumstances, I would say that it was treated pretty well for an animal that is viewed only as a source of food (no zoos on Pohnpei!).   

The red tape is keeping the turtle bound to the post which is out of the frame.

Apparently the turtle was captured by shooting it with a spear that was attached to a buoy; once the turtle nears the surface, you find the buoy and reel it in.  Eksel told us that they are sometimes captured when a fisherman pulls up next to the turtle in his boat.  When he is close enough, he jumps onto the back of the turtle and aims it toward the surface of the water.  Since turtles can only swim forward, he basically rides it up to the surface, out of the water, and into the boat.  My reaction to this was “GTFO!!” which stands for “get the heck out.” Pohnpeian fishermen are apparently the most badass individuals around.

The uhm as it is heating up.

I arrived home from orientation the next day to find that the fire had been prepared and the turtle recently dead.  After making a small incision, one guy got elbow deep into the turtle and pulled out the entrails.  Turtles are notoriously hard to kill.  I kid you not; the heart was still beating when the man pulled it from the turtle’s chest.  As if my mind was not already completely blown, he said something I didn’t understand to another man, who proceeded to come over and take a huge bite out of the still beating heart.  Like I said before...Pohnpeian fishermen…wow.  That guy ended up disappearing for a few minutes afterward and I think we can all figure out what kind of reaction he was having.  This was also when somebody else threw the intestines onto the fire.  As a rookie turtle-eater, I was obliged to try this delicacy.  Despite its chewiness and fattiness (and the fact that I’d seen the same thing on an autopsy table once before), the taste wasn’t objectionable.

Pulling the intestines out bit by bit.  I was impressed by this guy's knowledge of anatomy.

Here is the beating heart.  A couple seconds later, there was a sizable bite taken out of it.

Oh so delicious turtle intestine.

They cooked the turtle in an uhm, or a traditional Pohnpeian oven.  It is made by getting river rocks red hot and spreading them over the ground, and even putting some of them in the turtle.  The turtle was then placed on top of the rocks along with breadfruit, ripe and unripe bananas.  Then the whole thing was covered with enormous taro leaves (to keep the heat in) and cooked for 35 minutes. 

What followed can only be described as the most carnal, manly thing that I’ve ever been a part of.  It consisted of all the men crouched around the turtle as its arms, legs, and head were severed from the shell.  Then, it was a free-for-all as we tore strips of meat from anything within reach.  I learned that the best part of the turtle is a gelatinous dark green substance which I am pretty sure is pure body fat.  This was also something I was obliged to try.  If you can imagine what it is like to eat pure body fat, then you can imagine what it is like to eat this stuff.  It tasted much better when combined with the meat of the turtle, which I was amused to discover tastes like chicken.  The other other white meat. 

The finished uhm.  It is covered with large taro leaves which are held down by rocks.  The turtle is underneath along with breadfruit and several bananas.

The dissected turtle.  The large hunks of meat toward the right of the shell are the front flipper muscles.  This shell was quickly hollowed out by several hungry people.

Not a great picture but I wanted to show the general atmosphere of these types of things.  Mike and I were generously presented with a portion of the (neck) meat to save for later.

My host family didn’t think I would enjoy the turtle and they had already prepared a separate dinner for Mike and me.  So after our animalistic turtle rampage, we dutifully ate a second dinner of fried tuna and sashimi (raw tuna with soy sauce or lime) made available by another one of Eksel’s fishing trips.  Not to brag, but this marks the fourth dinner in a row where my food has been procured from the ocean only hours before (mangrove crab and fried fish the nights before) and I think I’ve been converted to a seafood lover.  I am certainly not looking forward to leaving my host family and having to cook for myself.  Until then, I’ll try to keep you updated on the latest and greatest Pohnpeian food! More pictures to come after Nan Madol and Ant Atoll this weekend!!