In ancient Samoa, meals were not divided into starter-main-dessert. Everything was prepared together in the umu, an oven dug into the earth and heated by volcanic stones (ma'a). The matua (family head) or an orator distributed the food according to rank: to warriors and honored guests, the pig (pua'a) and the best taros; to others, the tubers, leaves, and fruits. The ceremonial drink, 'ava, opened the great assemblies (fono). Eating together sealed the alliance of an 'aiga (extended family) and honored the aitu (ancestral spirits). A figure like Nafanua, warrior-goddess, is associated with victory feasts and offerings made before battle.

The gesture that perfumes all Samoan cooking: you grate the flesh of a mature coconut (with a tuai, the coconut grater), then press it in the fiber of the trunk (fau) to extract a thick, rich milk. This cream coats taro leaves, drapes bananas, binds the ovens. Without pe'epe'e, there is no island cuisine.