The highlands of Papua New Guinea are north of Australia. The Eneca tribe have gathered to make mono, an old recipe that everyone pitches in to prepare. Their cooker is a fire pit dug in the ground where they heat up stones. Then they’ll use it as an oven. Monos are small sweet bananas that they grate into a soft mass with a stick of bamboo.
The banana mash is kind of thick and looks like a béchamel sauce. Then they’ll add yams, pumpkin, maize and potatoes. Then they’ll add several layers of hot rocks, separating them from the food with more banana leaves. The primitive but efficient pressure cooker will begin to work now. It’s slow, but it will never explode. And two hours later the food will be ready.
