Makmamao

Written by Angela Carrier | June 2019

Our Cradle of Life | photo by ifit

Pulan : Makmamao

I founded the Pulan Collective in early 2018 out of longing for a sustained sense of sisterhood. I imagined us using the constant cycle of the moon as a predictable guide to bring CHamoru and Pacific Islander women together. Pulan means “the moon / to watch over / month” and the group is a support system to help each other and hold each other accountable. We put our dreams and wishes out into the group to receive feedback and encouragement, to be watched over.  

Together we can contribute to the CHamoru movement for sovereignty and self-determination through creative endeavors that bring people together through food, story and indigenous craft by feeding the body, the mind and the soul. 

My love of eating and cooking came at a very young age, with the strong women in my family preparing and enjoying food together. Whether we were rolling hundreds of lumpia for a party or clandestinely sneaking the crispy skin off a roasted turkey, those are moments that I savor and cherish. My grandmother’s brother, my great Uncle Eddie shared his wisdom on the food culture of the island with me, saying with a sly smile that, “other places people eat to live, but on Guam we live to eat!” I think of him when I stir a spoonful of crushed red hot peppers into my jar of fina’denne’ or when a phone call with my grandmother is spent talking about pickled papaya or how to make a tastier biringhenas. 

The idea of making a CHamoru cookbook has been an unrealized project for over a decade, evolving from the idea of a vegetarian CHamoru cookbook, to a pre-colonial cookbook, to the current iteration of the Pulan Collective full moon meals. I’ve finally acknowledged that the essential element to materialize my ideas is to work collaboratively and not individually on this project. Collectively accepting imperfection and unfinished experimentation to be shared in an open forum, allowing the process to be the artful product.

Lechen biringhenas

• Eggplant (Chinese or Japanese variety)

• Chopped onion or scallion

• Fresh lemon juice

• Salt

• Donne’

• Coconut cream

  Roast or barbeque the eggplant until charred and soft inside. Peel the skin off and scrape out the flesh into a bowl. Add chopped onion or scallion, squeeze fresh lemon juice, salt taste, donne’ to as pika as you like, and pour over the coconut cream. Mix well and adjust flavors to your liking.