Guam: A weak eating Tinaktak & CHamoru rice, watching Christmas films and mulling on colour-blindness
I could have easily skipped over Guam on these armchair travels using the excuse that it’s part of Micronesia and that the “democratic” United States shouldn’t consider anywhere a territory until there’s been a referendum and the people have the US vote. But, luckily, my completest mind wouldn’t let me fly past without checking this tiny island out.
I say luckily as I immediately found ten incredible vegan recipes to try. That’s far too many to make in a week so I plumped for simple and delicious Tinaktak and CHamoru rice as they’re both symbolic of the CHamoru culture that has been part of the islands for the last 3000 years or so. Sadly I failed to find the key ingredient for red rice (annatto seeds) and the paprika I swapped it for didn’t give it the red glow I was hoping for, but it was still a perfect support for the Tinaktak — vegan mince, vegetables and coconut milk. I topped it off with Kẻlaguen, a kind of lemony, chilli tofu dish. If I am allowed enough time on earth I’ll try making the other recipes too.
If your brain is anything like mine, you will be wondering why I keep saying CHamoru instead of Chamoru. The answer is surprisingly simple, CH is one letter in CHamorian and so both letters are considered the first letter of this proper noun. Sadly this stylistic convention is completely ignored in this week’s book, which offers a deep dive into both CHamorian life and the mysterious Lytico-Bodig disease that affects so many native Guamians. Called the Island of the colourblind, it is the story of neurologist Oliver Sacks’ travels around Micronesia, visiting tiny islands whose populations who rarely mix with outsiders, meaning genetic differences tend to be exacerbated. He visits Pingelap where the Pinglappers have a large tendency to colour-blindness as well as Guam, where many become paralysed with an illness similar to Parkinson’s. It is like a murder mystery where the reader has to work out what the cause of the illness is, but to be honest I’ve forgotten who the murderer was… of more interest was hearing about CHamorian life, and the reminder that there are billions of people across the world living a low carbon lifestyle who are about to get hammered by the climate crisis.
A film which teaches you very little about Indigenous Guamers is Operation Christmas Drop, a feel-good film about an uptight Washington Pen Pusher heading out to Guam to cut costs and impress her boss. It is a joyful basket of cliché and unobtrusive nonsense, but sometimes that is just what you need. You could probably guess the entire film just from the title and the photo, but sometimes that’s just what I need! It is set amongst the US troops, based on a true story, and even has a cameo from one of the people who has been encouraging the army to use their planes to deliver goods to hard to reach islands for years. What more could you want? Nothing.
Well maybe you might want a nice Guamian drink… and there seem to be many to choose from so I when to Guam Stripes and chose a Hibiscus Margarita, a mix of orange, tequila, vodka, lime and iced hibiscus tea! What a drink, what a way to live, but unfortunately in truth I doubt it is a staple of Guam life — I resorted to it simply as I couldn’t find CHamorro coconut wine or mango liquor. Perhaps one of my kind readers will send me some?!
And so to the music of the CHamoru people — I excitedly found this video which promises to tell you about music from 1960–1990, but sadly it includes no music at all! So instead I will leave you with this wonderful playlist which seems to bring together all the Guamian beachy albums a beginner like me could ever need.
Thank you for reading! Next week I’ll be hanging out in Guatemala!
