Kava in Vanuatu: The Drink, the Nakamal and the End of the Day

What it is

Kava is prepared from the root of a pepper plant. The root is ground or pounded, mixed with water and strained. The result is earthy, grey-brown and numbs the mouth; the effect is relaxant and clear-headed, and unlike alcohol in that respect.

How it is taken

A shell is drunk in one go, usually at dusk, usually standing, and usually followed by a moment of quiet. Nakamals — kava bars — are found in every town and most villages, marked after dark by a single coloured light. Conversation is kept low; this is the point of the place.

Strength and origin

Vanuatu kava is strong by regional standards, and varieties differ markedly between islands. Tanna and Pentecost kava have particular reputations. The country regulates which cultivars may be exported and bans the so-called two-day varieties from sale.

Kava and kastom

In customary settings kava is not a social drink but part of how business is done — disputes settled, agreements marked, grades taken. In much of the north the nakamal is the meeting house itself, and the drink and the institution carry the same name.

Preparation

The active compounds are kavalactones, concentrated in the root. Traditionally the root was chewed — saliva helps release the compounds — and in some places it still is for ceremonial preparations. Commercially it is pounded or ground, mixed with water and strained through cloth.

Fresh green kava, prepared the same day, is considerably stronger than the dried powder exported abroad, which is the main reason visitors misjudge it.

Etiquette

A shell is drunk in one movement. It is customary to spit afterwards, to rinse the mouth and to wait before speaking. Nakamals are quiet places by design: loud conversation, bright light and music are all out of keeping, and in many the rule is explicit.

Effects

Numbness of the lips and tongue within moments, then muscular relaxation and a settled, clear head. It does not produce the disinhibition alcohol does; people drink kava and become quieter. Driving afterwards is a genuinely bad idea and is treated as such.

Varieties and regulation

Vanuatu recognises noble and non-noble cultivars and permits only noble varieties for export. So-called two-day kava — strains whose effects persist far longer — may not be sold commercially. The Kava Act exists because the country’s export reputation depends on it.

Kava as an economy

Kava is among Vanuatu’s most valuable agricultural exports and the principal cash crop for many outer-island households. A garden takes three to five years to reach harvest, which makes it a long-term asset instead of a quick income, and cyclone damage to kava gardens is a serious economic event.

Exporting it

Kava is one of Vanuatu’s principal agricultural exports, going to Fiji, New Caledonia and increasingly to markets in Europe and North America where it is sold as a supplement. The 2002 European ban, imposed over liver-toxicity concerns later shown to relate to the use of the wrong plant parts, cost Pacific growers heavily and took years to reverse. Vanuatu’s noble-cultivar rule dates from that episode.

Nakamal, the building and the drink

In the north of the country the nakamal is the meeting house itself: the place where men of appropriate grade gather, where disputes are aired and where decisions are taken. Kava is drunk there because that is what the gathering does, not as recreation. In town the word has narrowed to mean the bar, and something of the original sense has gone with it.

Who drinks it

Customarily kava was restricted — in many places to initiated men, and in some to particular grades. Urban nakamals are open, and women drink in them, though this varies and remains contested in some communities. A visitor unsure of local practice should ask instead of assuming the town norm applies.