In the French Polynesian archipelago, the sake is an integral part of the people’s diet and their culture. This fruit is so important that its story is tied to the history of the archipelago.
Documentary image of the mutiny “Munity on the Bounty”. Touching Legend Sake has the English name breadfruit, or bread fruit, because after being cooked, this fruit has a surface like a loaf of toast while the smell and taste is like a potato. The mulberry tree is a flowering, woody plant in the mulberry family. Sake is grown for fruit, with a very high yield, each tree can yield from 150 to 200 fruits per crop. Sake fruit can be processed into many delicious dishes and is loved by many people. In it, the people of the French Polynesian island still tell the legend of the famine that occurred on the island of Raiatea. The story goes that, once upon a time, a family of six, in a desperate search for food, had to eat wild ferns in the valley around the cave where they lived. Unable to see his loved ones starving, the husband told his wife that he would bury himself outside the cave and transform into a flowering tree to feed his children. One morning, the wife woke up and her husband was nowhere to be found. She knows what happened. After looking around, the wife discovered near their place a tree that grew very fast, its branches laden with sake. Hawaiian mythology also circulates a similar story about the origin of the sake plant. Accordingly, sake is derived from the sacrifice of the war god Ku. After deciding to live in seclusion from the common people as a farmer, Ku married and had children. His family lived happily until a famine hit their island. When he could not see his children suffering forever, Ku told his wife that he could free his children from poverty, but to do this he had to leave them. His wife reluctantly agreed and after she agreed, Ku was sunk into the ground where he was standing until only the top of his head could be seen. His family waited around the place where he had stood day and night, crying and drenching the ground until suddenly a small tree bud appeared in the very spot where Ku had stood. Very quickly, this small bud grew into a tall, leafy tree and fruit. The Ku family and their neighbors ate deliciously, helping them escape starvation. This plant is the sake tree. The fruit of the sake in Africa. Today, this place is called Mahina but many locals still call it Tua-uru (meaning sake valley). Currently, the sake fruit, also known as the uru fruit as the locals call it, is an important part of the people’s diet and their culture. On the island of Polynesia, wherever you go, you will see tall trees with waxy leaves, sometimes heavy with fruit, each the size of a ball or maybe larger. Sake fruits are used to decorate roadsides and houses. In the market stalls, round and rectangular Sake fruits are lined up next to coconuts, bananas, soursop and passion fruit. On the more than 100 islands that make up the archipelago of French Polynesia, sake is a staple food. The name of this fruit comes from the fact that when it is ripe, this fruit contains a lot of pulp, if cooked, it will smell like freshly baked bread. The riper the Sake fruit, the sweeter it is and can be processed in many ways such as finely ground, boiled, grilled or fried with the pulp, even eaten fresh. Some locals call it the “Tree of Life” because it is so useful, both the fruit and the young leaves are edible; Wood is very light, can be used to build houses and make canoes. The bark is even used to make clothes. The Sake tree has been brought by the Polynesians and planted in their explorations throughout the South Pacific for thousands of years. When British explorers learned about this highly productive and nutritious fruit, it was taken around the world. Today, the sake plant is found in many tropical low-lying areas in more than 90 countries. Legendary mutiny Referring to this fruit, many people will immediately remember the mutiny that happened more than 200 years ago. Number is, in 1768, when Captain James Cook set sail aboard the British Royal Navy ship HMS Endeavor, British botanist Sir Joseph Banks also followed. During that three-year expedition, they stopped for about three months in Tahiti, Polynesia. Here, when witnessing the rapid growth of the Sake tree, which requires little care and produces a very high yield of starchy fruit, the two were quickly intrigued by the prospect that this fruit would eventually be used for food. slave farming in the West Indies region of the Caribbean. Upon his return to England, Mr Banks – who later became President of the Royal Society, the world’s oldest national scientific organization – presented King George III with their findings. The botanist even offered a prize to anyone who succeeded in transporting 1,000 sachets from Tahiti to the West Indies. Nearly 20 years after Captain Cook’s original expedition, King George III appointed Navy Captain William Bligh to lead the Sake expedition, to Tahiti. On November 28, 1787, Captain Bligh sailed with his crew aboard the HMS Bounty for an ambitious mission. Their journey had a rough start. Heavy rain and strong winds caused the trip to be significantly delayed. Once they reached Tahiti, Mr. Bligh and his crew had to wait another 5 months for the trees there to be big enough to be taken away. However, by this time, new problems arose as Bligh’s sailors had become accustomed to island life and Tahitian women. Many of them don’t want to leave. So on April 29, 1789, just a month after crossing the South Pacific to the West Indies, his friend Fletcher Christian and 18 other disgruntled sailors forced Bligh and his supporters to board a boat. 7m long boat and pushed them out to sea, throwing all the sake trees on that boat to rob the ship. This mutiny on the Bounty has become a legend. Bligh and his crew miraculously survived thanks to their instincts and great memory. It was thanks to this excellent memory and instinct that the Captain and his crew were able to travel 3,618 nautical miles (approximately 6,701 km) in 48 days, reaching Timor – an island located in Southeast Asia. From there, Bligh quickly returned to England, where he was honored and acquitted of all wrongdoing. Two years later, he once again sailed to Tahiti and this time he fulfilled his mission. In fact, some of the trees believed to have been brought by Bligh in the early days are still bearing fruit in Jamaica.
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