Originally posted on cruisingrunner
Before leaving home I did a lot of reading about provisioning. There were so many “tricks of the trade” that I needed to learn about storing fresh foods, which foods last the longest, and how to minimize what you have to keep in the fridge. And one of the recurring tips I encountered was that cabbage is a great thing to buy, because it lasts, like forever. So, of course when we were in Mexico, I kept buying cabbage. Cabbage is a cruiser’s staple, and we were cruisers now, so I bought cabbage, what else could I do? But the thing is, we never ate cabbage at home, and we don’t actually really like cabbage. So, yes, I kept buying it, but then I kept throwing out rotten cabbage. No matter how long it lasted, we never ate it. I did eventually learn my lesson that cruising WILL cause you to change some of your eating habits, but it’s NOT going to magically make you like cabbage.
Fast forward a couple of years, and now I’ve learned another lesson. One that took going 5 weeks between provisioning (our longest so far) for us to learn. We provisioned in Savusavu, Fiji to spend some weeks in The Lau group, and after being gone 3 weeks we were pretty well depleted of all things fresh on board, the exceptions being potatoes and garlic. In Matuku, we were given some mandarins and papayas, which were absolutely heavenly, but after 5 weeks, we were seriously craving vegetables that didn’t come from a can. In a village on the island of Kadavu they had these huge bunches of leafy greens that they were selling, and I didn’t even know what they were when I practically started throwing money at them. It turns out they were taro leaves, and a friend told me that at a Tongan feast she had had a bad reaction in her throat to taro leaves and that Big Mama (of Big Mama’s yacht club in Tongatapu) had told her that if you don’t cook it long enough that’s what can happen. I still bought it and I cooked the crap out of it, but I was worried, so I ate it myself without giving any to anyone else. I swear I was looking out for their well being and NOT just hogging all the greens for myself!
Anyway, while we were anchored at Namara Island, Tim and a friend dinghied over to the next island of Dravuni in order to do our sevusevu presentation, and when they came back it was like Christmas, because they were able to buy just a few provisions there. Eggs, a loaf of bread, and last but not least, a head of green cabbage. We didn’t care that it was cabbage, we were having salad at dinner that night! We didn’t have any other veggies, but not to worry. Just add some chopped cashews, canned mandarin oranges, uncooked ramen noodles, and homemade sesame oil/ginger vinaigrette dressing and you’ve got yourself a real cruiser’s salad.
So, it turns out cruising CAN magically make you like cabbage. You just have to be desperate enough.
Gresham Family Exodus 