Vegan in Fiji

Hi everyone,

Im moving to Fiji for a few months in January to work and wondered if anyone had been out there whilst a vegan? Ive never been to that part of the world, and I know the local population eat a lot of fish, but that there is also a large Indian population so I guess I will be okay?

I will be living in the capital, Suva, and there are good fresh produce markets but I think I will miss things like soya milk if they dont have them!!

Thanks in advance for any advice : )

Clare

Fiji? You poor thing, and you'll miss most of the British winter too... :p

You should be ok with all the indian shops. If there's no soya milk, you could try making your own milk from rice and/or nuts.

i searched online and theres a supermarket chain called countdown, owned by wollworths.

i would think they have soya milk and all of the convinences that i found easily in woolworths when i was in australia.

i did a search for the words vegan and fiji :

and came up with this advice from a traveler
"Fiji has lots of Chinese and Indian cuisine. There should be no problem there. There is a produce market on the Fiji island of Nadi called Ali's Marketing Fresh Fruit & Vegetable. There is also a good eco-tourism hotel on Fiji called Namenalala. Remember, tipping at restaurants is not customary on Fiji.
I always bring along a few high protein granola/nutrition bars on trips just in case."

(side note: i think the world needs a vegan travel book series... and once again, i am going to volunteer for the job :))

Hi, I'm currently living in Suva and will be here until next July at least. I've met two other vegans in Suva and I hear there is another on on Tamavua.

In Suva you can get just about anything as long as you are willing to pay for it, though with imported mushrooms at $30/kg and on volunteer wages I've learnt to live without some things.

The Suva market is fantastic and is Monday-Saturday with Thurs-Sat being the biggest days (more range, fresher food). Lots of fresh fruit & veg at reasonable prices as well as indian spices, rice, dried beans and tofu. To give you some indication of cost you can get 3 pinapples for about $2, a drinking coconut for $1, a bag of bean sprouts for 50c and 5 small papaya for $2. Apples/pears are imported and therefore expensive too, so I tend to stick with the tropical stuff.

The range of products in the normal supermarkets varies depending on where you go but you can get soymilk, mock meat, tofu etc. There is also Cost-U-Less which imports alot of products and you can get vegan chocolate and a wider range of things like soymilk, cereal there. I've also found a great little chinese supermarket that sells rice noodles and soy sauce etc

Around 40% of Fiji's population are ethnically Indo-Fijian (the decendants of Indian indentured workers) and so there is lots of Indian places to eat and a number of vegetarian ones too. Most people understand what vegetarianism is and many Hindu's have at day or so a week when they keep vegetarian.

Eating out: I've found that not too many places used ghee in the cooking of curries (veg oil is cheaper), but they will have yogurts, ghee made sweets etc. There is also a Chinese community so you can get a tofu/veg dishes from lots of restaraunts. In terms of island food, I love cassava, but am not a fan of dalo (taro). The pineapples are the best I have ever eaten and mango season has just started. Make sure you try the vegetarian palasami, it's dalo leave cooked in coconut cream, really nice.

The local company Pure Fiji do awesome skin care/beauty products from local products and don't use animal ingredients/ don't test on animals.

If you have any more specific questions, let me know.

Thanks for that! Really good to hear from someone who is in Suva living as a vegan! I will also be volunteering for the SPCA so will be living on a very small amount of money, and good to know that the markets live up to their reputation!

Those beauty products sound great too - Im sure I do have lots of questions but Im just off to the docs to get my vaccinations, so will reply again later!

Thanks ever so much again for putting my mind at ease!

Clare x

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moonbug

Hi, I'm currently living in Suva and will be here until next July at least. I've met two other vegans in Suva and I hear there is another on on Tamavua.

In Suva you can get just about anything as long as you are willing to pay for it, though with imported mushrooms at $30/kg and on volunteer wages I've learnt to live without some things.

The Suva market is fantastic and is Monday-Saturday with Thurs-Sat being the biggest days (more range, fresher food). Lots of fresh fruit & veg at reasonable prices as well as indian spices, rice, dried beans and tofu. To give you some indication of cost you can get 3 pinapples for about $2, a drinking coconut for $1, a bag of bean sprouts for 50c and 5 small papaya for $2. Apples/pears are imported and therefore expensive too, so I tend to stick with the tropical stuff.

The range of products in the normal supermarkets varies depending on where you go but you can get soymilk, mock meat, tofu etc. There is also Cost-U-Less which imports alot of products and you can get vegan chocolate and a wider range of things like soymilk, cereal there. I've also found a great little chinese supermarket that sells rice noodles and soy sauce etc

Around 40% of Fiji's population are ethnically Indo-Fijian (the decendants of Indian indentured workers) and so there is lots of Indian places to eat and a number of vegetarian ones too. Most people understand what vegetarianism is and many Hindu's have at day or so a week when they keep vegetarian.

Eating out: I've found that not too many places used ghee in the cooking of curries (veg oil is cheaper), but they will have yogurts, ghee made sweets etc. There is also a Chinese community so you can get a tofu/veg dishes from lots of restaraunts. In terms of island food, I love cassava, but am not a fan of dalo (taro). The pineapples are the best I have ever eaten and mango season has just started. Make sure you try the vegetarian palasami, it's dalo leave cooked in coconut cream, really nice.

The local company Pure Fiji do awesome skin care/beauty products from local products and don't use animal ingredients/ don't test on animals.

If you have any more specific questions, let me know.

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HI,
im sorting out a holiday to travel from the uk to fiji with my wife towards the end of this year......... when im looking online all i see is that all these holiday resorts just have sea food! so im really glad i came across this post......

do you have any tips on cheaper places to stay? websites are showing hotels for £800 a night!! is it better to book a hotel when we arrive? and also could you recommend anywhere near the vegan places or vegan friendly restaurants and also cheaper places to stay?

any help would be great
thanks