Polynesian earth oven (umu, imu, lovo, hāngī)
Horno de tierra polinesio (umu, imu, lovo, hāngī)
- Date
- c. 1000 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Teouma, Efate Island, Vanuatu
- Credited to
- Lapita seafarers and Polynesian peoples
- Field
- Life & health
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A pit lined with fire-heated stones and covered with leaves and earth, in which pork, fish, taro and breadfruit are steam-cooked. Pacific peoples took it to every island, under names such as umu, imu, lovo and hāngī.
Earth ovens have existed worldwide since the Palaeolithic; in Remote Oceania they appear associated with Lapita sites, but the origin date of the Oceanic tradition is vague. Teouma is a representative site, not an origin.
What it led to
- communal festive cooking throughout the Pacific, from Hawaii to New Zealand
- cooking of large quantities with little fuel
- Māori hāngī and Fijian lovo, now recognised cultural emblems