Twenty-four talented cooks from Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa, will compete in a reality TV cooking show competition hosted by celebrity chef, Robert Oliver, to be launched in March.

The Pacific Islands Food Revolution TV show also uses radio and social media, encouraging Pacific Islanders to make good food choices in a bid to fight non-communicable diseases, prevalent in Pacific countries.

Developed by Robert Oliver, the Revolution encourages Pacific Islanders to take pride in their traditional foods and go back to eating fresh, local and indigenous produce as the answer to good health.

The show will see the cooks embrace their Pacific food heritage and use local produce to create traditional or new flavoured dishes, while competing to win.

Two Tongans, Fololeni Curr, and UNICEF Pacific Ambassador Pita Taufatofua will be Robert’s co-hosts for some episodes of the show along with Dr Jone Hawea from Fiji, Dora Rossi from Samoa, and Voutausi Mackenzie-Reur from Vanuatu.

HRH Princess Pilolevu Tuita, also a guest on the show, spoke with Robert Oliver about the Revolution social movement and the philosophy behind it, that traditional Pacific Island food is healthy and should not be shunned in favour of overseas imported food such as instant noodles and sugary drinks.

Princess Pilolevu said looking at the wholesomeness of the Pacific Island food and how we can maintain it and relate it to the modern day is a very important issue.

“I think the Food Revolution has gone on beyond that and making you look at your whole life. I think it is very important to communicate with the young.”

She realised that while in her 40s, she “started waking up to the fact there is such a thing as healthy living, healthy food”.

“And now I’m in my 60s, I think it is really important that people all over the Pacific start thinking young, while they are teenagers, how their health is going to be affected by the food that they eat.”

TV co-host Fololeni Curr, who grew up in Tonga, told Matangi Tonga her role in the show is to give the perspective as a daughter of Tonga.

“I truly believe in what it’s trying to achieve. It is time that we bring back the kind of food and cooking that our forefathers used to have. Tonga has a food culture that is still alive with our grandparents and when you match that knowledge with new enthusiasm - the results are spectacular.”

“No matter where you travel in the world, you will always miss our food back home. Our Pacific Food is in our DNA. We can fuse the knowledge and cooking of the past with flavours and techniques of the future,” she said.

“This show celebrates our food from our region, the South Pacific. It’s our identity and it’s time to celebrate it and showcase it to the rest of the world.”

People can join the Revolution and obtain Pacific recipes, information about food traditions, download toolkits, lesson plans for teachers and Pacific classrooms, by signing up to be a Food Warrior at www.pacificislandfoodrevolution.com [2].

The Pacific Island Food Revolution will be launched in Fiji in March and broadcast on television across the Pacific Islands, including Australia and New Zealand.

The Revolution is an initial pilot program with funding of AUD$7 million jointly provided by the governments of Australia and New Zealand.