Yellowfin tuna, lobster bisque or tropical soursop, all paired with a premium international wine collection. Like any luxury all-inclusive resort, you’d expect the culinary offering at the privately owned, five-star Turtle Island Fiji to be nothing less than exemplary.
But things are done a little differently here. Fresh farm and sea-to-table produce has always been a point of difference for Turtle Island, with traditional Fijian food at the heart of it. Since the pandemic, this luxury Fijian island’s culinary experience has hit new highs, delivering an even more sustainable guest and community experience.
What is traditional Fijian food?
Traditional Fijian food is built on what the land and sea provide: root crops such as cassava and dalo (taro), coconut, leafy greens and freshly caught seafood. Dishes are often prepared with fresh coconut milk or slow-cooked in a lovo, an underground earth oven, and shared communally. On Turtle Island, these traditions are part of everyday dining.
Which traditional Fijian dishes can you try on Turtle Island?
Native dishes on offer include kokoda, raw fish “cooked” by marinating in lime juice, with the added taste bonus of miti (fresh coconut milk). There’s also Fijian palusami, and rourou, a taro leaf soup served with locally caught fresh lobster.
Seafood like giant trevally, dogtooth tuna, walu, Spanish mackerel, crab, lobster and prawns are caught locally. Mud and land crabs are easily found on the island, as are lobster and fish from the surrounding ocean.
Her presence is a quiet but powerful reminder that care, respect and familial love are core values of the Fijian culture and of Turtle Island itself.
What is a Fijian lovo?
Once a week there is a Fijian lovo on offer, where local delicacies are cooked in an “underground oven”, followed by a traditional meke (dance) and kava ceremony.
What is a kava ceremony like?
Staff host a kava ceremony at the end of most nights, where your Bure Mama hands you a cup with your name on it and you can drink kava. Kava is an earthy drink made from the fresh or powdered root of the Piper methysticum plant, which translates as “intoxicating pepper” for its relaxing and mildly euphoric effects.
It is traditionally shared during social events, mixed in a tanoa (a hand-carved wooden bowl) and served in a coconut shell. The sounds of Fijian staff playing guitar soon fill the air as guests experience the socialising and community so deeply rooted in Fijian culture.
Can you forage and fish for your own food on Turtle Island?
To continue their immersion into Fijian food, guests can take part in foraging, catching and harvesting, from clam digging and nama (sea grape) harvesting to nighttime crab hunting and Fijian handline fishing.
These “taste of place” experiences give guests the opportunity to connect with the local culture and see how Fijians respect and nurture the land and sea around them. Most importantly, they show how it helps support the Nacula Tikina, Turtle Island’s neighbouring island community, through food deliveries.
Guests are not only encouraged to embrace this spirit, they often find themselves transformed by it. For some, it’s the deep sense of peace that comes from feeling truly cared for. For others, it’s the friendships formed across cultures and continents. This closeness is rooted in Fijian culture itself, where community and hospitality are woven into everyday life rather than performed for visitors.
How did Turtle Island become a sustainable island?
Due to Turtle Island’s location in the Yasawa Group, a two-hour boat ride northwest of Viti Levu, a sustainable ethos was one of the original goals of the late American entrepreneur and eco-visionary Richard Evanson, who purchased the island in the early 1970s.
Evanson began regenerating the once-barren island by planting thousands of tree seedlings to develop lush rainforest, provide food resources and help stabilise hillsides destroyed by erosion. Fifty years later, the 500-acre island boasts more than half a million trees, including fruit trees such as papaya, banana, soursop, rose apple, mango, guava, coconut and many more species. The delicious bounty from these trees features in diverse ways on the daily menus prepared by Head Chef Beni Betekoaka.
How much of Turtle Island's food is grown on the island?
Today the island is home to a small farm and lush gardens that supply the resort and the entire community with produce from dairy cows, pigs, ducks, chickens, eggs, fruit, vegetables and honey from a beehive that is home to 120,000 bees. The extensive vegetable gardens, which include a large hydroponic lettuce area, and the farm now supply 80% of the food enjoyed by the island’s guests and staff.
The expanded farms were the idea of Richard Evanson Jr., who wanted to keep the resort staff employed during the pandemic. The only imported produce is onions, potatoes, oranges and apples, as these can’t be grown on the island. All of the milk, cream, yogurt and butter is made in the onsite kitchens.
Where do guests dine on Turtle Island?
All of this fresh farm and sea-to-table produce is enjoyed in the most idyllic of settings. There’s no signature restaurant at Turtle Island. Part of the resort’s charm is that guests are invited to enjoy the conviviality of communal dining in outstanding locations, including the long table on the front beach overlooking the Blue Lagoon, the vegetable garden and the mountain top.
Evening meals begin with a beach bonfire, where the day’s adventures are shared with fellow guests against the backdrop of a stunning Fijian sunset. Dinner around the long table on the beach will likely consist of freshly caught yellowfin tuna, crab or lobster, tender chicken kebabs, and fresh salad and vegetables grown in the resort’s garden.
What private and social dining experiences are available?
A variety of private dining is also available, such as on the floating ocean pontoons where meals are delivered by boat, at the end of the lantern-lit jetty, and at Cliff Point, where a saltwater plunge pool lets guests end their evening with an after-dinner dip.
There are also social dinners for guests to mix with others. The Grill seats eight people, with all of the food prepared in front of you on a hibachi grill. There’s also a Mongolian barbecue, where guests choose from vegetables, meats, spices and sauces, and staff cook it and serve it at a long communal table on the beach. A sunset cruise rounds out the options.
Are beach picnics included at Turtle Island?
While other resorts treat beach picnics as an extra or separate tariff, a picnic lunch is the norm here at Turtle Island. Lunch can be ordered in the morning through your Bure Mama, the personal concierge assigned to each couple on arrival. Like breakfast and dinner, the menu changes daily. One day it might be lobster tails with homemade bread, pearl couscous and fish tacos; another day, garlic prawns and rice, devilled eggs and fruit salad.
Each beach is slightly different, but there will always be a bure (a traditional thatched Fijian villa), a lounge, a table and a hammock. Long Beach, on the opposite side of the island from the resort, is as the name suggests a long stretch of white sand. A bit closer to the resort, Shell Beach is perfect for privacy.
Explore Turtle Island Fiji
The culinary experiences at Turtle Island Fiji go beyond the usual cuisine at five-star resorts, bringing traditional Fijian food together with sustainable farming practices that in turn help the community. Get in touch today to find out more about the unique culinary experiences available on Turtle Island Fiji.
