Yaqona

It's time I finally explained this. It's most widely known as kava, though I'm not sure where that word came from. Here in Fiji it's called yaqona. I had it once when I was in Hawai'i and they call it 'awa. The English slang word for it is grog. What is it exactly? It's the roots of Piper methysticum, a plant in the pepper family. Traditionally it was only drank by chiefs and only on specially occasions. It was traditionally prepared by a young boy who chewed the roots into a pulp then strained them with water through cloth made from coconut husks. Nowadays, anyone can drink grog anytime. The roots are pounded into a powder then strained through a cloth to make a thick liquid that looks like muddy water. Grog is an important part of any special occasion. Baby namings, first birthday, first menstration, 21^st birthdays, engagements, weddings, and funerals all take place around the grog bowl. Meetings are also held around the grog bowl. The dried roots are presented as an offering for visiting someone's house, talking to the chief, for apologies and thank yous, really just about anything. We also just drink grog just for fun, and indeed we do almost every evening in the village. It's a social thing, like having coffee or a beer with a friend. Even when just drinking for fun, there's a proper procedure that must always be followed when drinking grog and it varies by region and I'll spare you the details. Now what does it do? It's always been interesting to me that grog is used for meetings and for social gatherings because after you've had few bowls, you can't really talk much anymore. One bowl makes you mouth numb and dry (that's why we always eat sweets when we drink grog, and maybe part of the reason why Fijians tend to have bad teeth). After a few more bowls, the numbness spreads (not complete numbness, just a kind of dull feeling), your muscles relax, your mind relaxes, and it becomes difficult to talk in anything more than simple sentences. I've never reached the point where walking becomes impossible, but I've seen it happen to others. What are the side effects? There was as study done once that showed that in causes liver damage, which is why you don't find much kava in the US or Europe. But it was later discovered that that study wasn't done very well, and it was funded by the rival of a pharmaceutical company that was using kava to develop anxiety medication. So there probably aren't any serious permanent side effects. It does make you lose your appetite temporarily, and if you drink it regularly, it makes your skin scaly and peel. But that goes if away if you take a break from drinking for a while. It makes you sleep really well, and some say it makes you lazy the next day. I guess that just depends on how much you drink. Some say it negatively effects sexual performance and sperm count. I'm not sure if there have been any clinical studies on that. So why do we drink it? I don't know. I guess every culture has it's intoxicants and social lubricants. In the US we're addicted to coffee and beer. In South America it was yerba mata. In other pacific islands it's betel nut (also in the pepper family). Here it's yaqona, and I really like it.