Photos of the imu cooking process:
Photos 19 to 24 - Wrapping and tying the pork butt in a bundle of overlapping banana leaves. The leaves are laid in consecutive perpendicular positions to each other. The entire bundle was tied with a New Zealand Flax leaf that was sliced into strips and braided into cordage.
Photos 25 to 33 - Wrapping spinach leaves, slices of pork, and chicken in a bundle of 2 overlapping ti leaves. The two ti leaves are laid perpendicular to each other, as shown in Photo 27. The stem of the last ti leaf is tied in a half hitch around the bundle to secure the package. This ti leaf cover is called laulau. Taro leaves were traditionally cooked in the laulau instead of spinach leaves.
This article was first published in Wilderness
Way magazine (Volume 11, Issue 1)
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