The Pacific Agribusiness Forum in Samoa has heard this week that Samoa now supplies a significant proportion of the food consumed by tourists, instead of importing it.
Papali'i Sonya Hunter - CEO Samoa Tourism Authority Photo: RNZI/Monica Miller
And this is being put down to the promotional value garnered as a result of a cook book by noted chef Robert Oliver.
The chief executive of the Samoa Tourism Authority, Papalii Sonya Hunter, said in the past year or so they have cut the amount the country has had to spend on imported fruits, vegetables, meat and fish, for the tourism industry.
She says as Mr Oliver was researching the Samoan recipes for his regional cook book, Me'a Kai, her agency was looking for ways to brand Samoan cuisine for tourists.
"So Robert Oliver came - he wrote write Me'a Kai - and Samoa made sure that most of Me'a Kai, we had the first chapter, but we made sure that all the images in it were from Samoa," she said.
