Some pics of American Samoa

[urbanguy]

Talofa and welcome to American Samoa!

Here's a little map of its location in the South Pacific - American Samoa is just east of Samoa (formerly Western Samoa)

Here's the flag of American Samoa

American Samoa has a population of nearly 60,000 people and is the smaller of the Two Samoas. Although, the two Samoan Island groups are separated governmentally one independent (Samoa formerly Western Samoa) and the other a Territory of the U.S.A. they share a common language, culture and family ties and are in constant communication/exchange with each other. The Samoan people are very friendly (although i have many Samoan friends that have noticed the younger Samoans that have migrated or grew up in the US sometimes become ghetto-ized and are much different from the friendlier and open Samoans in their homeland -- Keep in mind these are opinions from old friends of mine) and are typically known to produce great athletes and famous for fire dancing to outsiders but there's so much more. Despite American Samoa being a part of the U.S., the islanders have been able to preserve much of their culture, traditions and language with little outside influence. There are no large city centers as you might guess because of its small population so it remains quite rural by US standards. I have never been to either of the Samoas but know many people from both back home. Also, keep mind i'm also not trying to "postcard" , "tourisize", or whatever represents the stereotypes or fantasies that many westerners have of the tropics and islands in general. These places have real people with unique cultures, traditions, languages and have a strong sense of community and family values. I'm saying this also because i grew up in an island setting and its hard for others that havent to understand or fully appreciate what exists other than a postcard, tv, brochure or an orientalist view. Anyhow, here are some pics that i've found online... enjoy

Note: These pics were taken by a variety of great photographers not by me.

Pago Pago Harbour

I will try to post more pics when i have the time.

[Kheldane]

Beautiful Pictures! I'm very curious about American Samoa. Most people forget that the US has a territory in the south pacific. Maybe the samoans like it that wy though...

[monsoon]

Indeed. Very nice thread and photos. Thanks for posting it here urbanguy.

[CarolinaDaydreamin]

Indeed. Very nice thread and photos. Thanks for posting it here urbanguy.

Beuatiful! How is the food there? I might have to come.

[urbanguy]

You guys are welcome im glad you folks enjoyed this thread!

As for food Samoans love breadfruit or ulu (pronounced like -> ooh-loo) as its more commonly known usually baked and tastes sort of like i dont know potatoey like or maybe its just the texture that seems like it. There are also other things of course that are pretty good but being able to sample Samoan food outside of the Samoas, New Zealand, Hawaii and California is very probably very difficult to find.

A few other dishes are:

Ulu

Esi Fafao: baked papaya stuffed with beef

Palu Sami: taro leaves baked in coconut cream *Very popular with Tongans too

Pee Pee: coconut cream

Poi Olu: breadfruit poi

Povi Masima: salted beef brisket

Taufolo: mashed breadfruit and coconut milk

Ooh and the Samoan beer Vailima is really good too i like a lot of the beers from the south pacific not sure if you can find most of them outside of Hawaii or California though but

Hinano - Tahitian beer is good as well as Steinlager - very popular in Hawaii but not my fav i like Hinano, Vailima and Tooheys (Australia) more

Vailima

Hinano

Tooheys

[Aporkalypse]

Gorgeous pictures. Sign me up.

[DreamerGuy]

We at Puerto Rico eat this too:

We call it "Pana". We mostly eat it with cornbeef or codfish, and it is consumed mostly at lunchtime.

Some people call that "poor's food" but I love it

[urbanguy]

^Thats very interesting, i didn't know it grew out there too. How do you guys prepare it? I think Samoans mainly bake it. I've only had it baked but it reminded me of like some sort of sweet potato.

[DreamerGuy]

Mostly boiled in water or fried as "tostones", like the platain tostones, but made of pana xD

Maybe some people bake and fill them with chicken or beef, but is rare.

Tostones are this:

When it's herved, it looks like this (it's sliced):

[Dreamliner]

WOW! I had no idea American Samoa was so breathtaking! Thanks for all the pictures!

[urbanguy]

^Yeah its a beautiful looking place i'd love to visit.

DreamerGuy, man those Tostones are making me hungry.