Breadfruit and the Long History of Pacific Tree Foods
ANCIENT MEALS · 100 / 100 Lapita-era tree-food context · Western Melanesia and early Pacific exchange sphere · c. 1200–500 BCE; exact local introduction dates uncertain Evidence: historically informed adaptation. The historical evidence and modern cooking choices are distinguished below. Jump to recipe A tree food needs a careful timeline Breadfruit is central to many Pacific food traditions, but its history cannot be dated everywhere by looking at present-day gardens. Research reviewing breadfruit in Vanuatu discusses tree cultivation, regional diversity, and the uneven evidence for older practices. The first written descriptions are much later than Lapita settlement, so they cannot be copied backward as a precise ancient recipe. Generated illustration of the modern recipe adaptation; not an archaeological photograph or an exact ancient reconstruction. A study of archaeological starch and plant movements summarizes the wider view that breadfruit was domesticated in Island Southeast...