Don’t mess with the Sapasui (Chop Suey)!

Published: 29 July 2014

We recently had a shared lunch at my workplace - the Heart Foundation, so I offered to make traditional chop suey.

Then it was suggested that I use the Heart Foundation sapasui recipe and I started to feel resentment at the palagi nutritionists telling me to change my Samoan dish. Why be fia poto (want to be smart) with a dish that’s worked for years?

It made me realise that this is the difficulty we face when encouraging our Pasifika people to change their cooking style. With a little reluctance I made the Heart Foundation sapasui recipe and it was a huge success, even with the Pasifika staff (phew!).

Sixty eight percent of our Pasifika population are obese. That’s the equivalent of the entire population of Napier/Hastings and Rotorua. That’s why I decided to make a healthier option. What’s one thing you can do to cook healthier?

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