Ni-Vanuatu cooking is built on root crops — taro, yam, cassava, kumala (sweet potato) — combined with coconut milk, leafy greens, and whatever protein comes from the reef or the garden. The cooking method most associated with the country is the earth oven: food wrapped in banana leaves and cooked on hot stones in the ground, which gives everything a distinctive smoky-sweet quality.
Lap lap is the national dish. Grated yam, taro, or cassava is mixed with coconut cream, wrapped in banana leaves, and slow-cooked in an earth oven, sometimes with chunks of pork, chicken, or fish inside. It is heavy, filling, and tastes nothing like anything you can approximate at home. You will find it at markets, village feasts, and occasionally restaurants.
Tuluk is lap lap stuffed with a spiced meat filling — a more elaborate version that turns up at ceremonial meals.
Coconut crab is a delicacy across the islands. These enormous land crabs — which can weigh up to 4kg and live for decades — are prized for their rich, sweet meat. They are not cheap and their numbers have declined in accessible areas. If you eat one, make sure it is sourced from a managed or outer-island fishery.
Fish and seafood are abundant: reef fish grilled over charcoal, lobster, and various shellfish appear on menus everywhere from Port Vila restaurants to village cooking pots.
Port Vila has a cosmopolitan restaurant scene by regional standards — French-influenced cooking is a legacy of the colonial period and several good French restaurants survive. The central market sells fresh produce, cooked food, and fresh coconut water. For outer islands, budget for a more basic diet and supplement with what your guesthouse can arrange from the local garden and reef.
Kava is not food but it structures the social day. The nakamal (kava bar) opens at dusk and is the default evening destination across the country. Shells of fresh kava are consumed in companionable quiet. It is calming, mildly sedative, and numbingly bitter. The ritual of accepting a shell and finishing it in one go matters socially — refusing or sipping is considered bad form.