Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Cook Islander recipes, part of Oceania. This page provides links to all the Cook Islander recipes presented on this site, with 8 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cook Islander recipes added to this site.

Due to the island location and the fact that the Cook Islands produce a significant array of fruits and vegetables, natural local produce, especially coconut, features in many of the dishes of the islands as does fresh seafood. While most food is imported from New Zealand, there are several Growers' Associations, such as Mangaian, Ngatangiia, Penrhyn, Puaikura, and Rakahanga, which contribute produce for local cuisine.

These recipes, for the major part, originate in the Cook Islands. Otherwise they are fusion recipes with major Cook Islander influences.

Cook Islands ( Kūki 'Airani in Cook Islands Māori and Kūki Airani in Penrhyn), is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately 236.7km². The Cook Islands Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers 1,960,027 square kilometres (756,771 sq mi) of ocean. Avarua on the main island of Rarotonga is the capital.

The Cook Islands is self-governing while in free association with New Zealand. Since the start of the 21st century, the Cook Islands conducts its own independent foreign and defence policy, and also has its own customs regulations. Like most members of the Pacific Islands Forum, it has no armed forces, but the Cook Islands Police Service owns a Guardian Class Patrol Boat, CIPPB Te Kukupa II, provided by Australia, for policing its waters. In recent decades, the Cook Islands has adopted an increasingly assertive and distinct foreign policy, and a Cook Islander, Henry Puna, served as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum from 2021 to 2024. Most Cook Islanders have New Zealand citizenship, plus the status of Cook Islands nationals, which is not given to other New Zealand citizens. The Cook Islands has been an active member of the Pacific Community, formerly the South Pacific Commission, since 1980.

The Cook Islands' main population centres are on Rarotonga (10,863 in 2021), also the location of Rarotonga International Airport, the main international gateway to the country. The census of 2021 put the total population at 14,987. There is also a larger population of Cook Islanders in New Zealand and Australia: in the 2018 New Zealand census, 80,532 people said they were Cook Islanders, or of Cook Islands descent. The last Australian census recorded 28,000 Cook Islanders living in Australia, many with Australian citizenship. With over 168,000 visitors to the islands in 2018, tourism is the country's main industry and leading element of its economy, ahead of offshore banking, pearls, and marine and fruit exports.

Etymology: The Cook Islands comprise 15 islands that have had individual names in indigenous languages including Cook Islands Māori and Pukapukan throughout the time they have been inhabited. The first name given by Europeans was Gente Hermosa (beautiful people) by Spanish explorers to Rakahanga in 1606

The islands as a whole are named after the English captain and explorer James Cook, who visited during the 1770s and named Manuae 'Hervey Island' after Augustus Hervey, 3rd Earl of Bristol. The southern island group became known as the 'Hervey Islands' after this. In the 1820s, Russian Admiral Adam Johann von Krusenstern referred to the southern islands as the 'Cook Islands' in his Atlas de l'Ocean Pacifique. The entire territory (including the northern island group) was not known as the 'Cook Islands' until after its annexation by New Zealand in the early 20th century. In 1901, the New Zealand parliament passed the Cook and other Islands Government Act, demonstrating that the name 'Cook Islands' only referred to some of the islands. This situation had changed by the passage of the Cook Islands Act 1915, which defined the Cooks' area and included all presently included islands.

The islands' official name in Cook Islands Māori is Kūki 'Āirani, a transliteration of the English name.

Cook Islander Cuisine:

Due to the island location and the fact that the Cook Islands produce a significant array of fruits and vegetables, natural local produce, especially coconut, features in many of the dishes of the islands as does fresh seafood. While most food is imported from New Zealand, there are several Growers' Associations, such as Mangaian, Ngatangiia, Penrhyn, Puaikura, and Rakahanga, which contribute produce for local cuisine. Typical local cuisine includes arrowroot, clams, octopus, and taro, and seasonings such as fresh ginger, lime, lemon, basil, garlic and coconut. Rukau is a dish of taro leaves cooked with coconut sauce and onion. A meal of octopus is known locally as Eke, and suckling pig is known as Puaka. Ika mata is a dish of raw fish marinated with lemon or lime and served with coconut cream, while Pai Ika and Keke Ika are also local fish fare. Poke is a dessert which can be made in one of two ways, either with banana and coconut milk or with pawpaw. Soursop, oranges and mangos are popular as juices. Coconut water, local beer (Cooks Lager), and coffee are popular beverages among the Cook Islanders.