All Life is Sacred

Lemurian Diet

ŽAi no Pali-uli

Because Lemurians considered all life to be sacred, we have adopted a diet that is in many ways like the standard raw-food fruitarian diet, but with some modifications in that it includes all foods that are perennials and do not involve killing the plant in order to consume its leaves, berries, fruits or tubers. On top of that it follows locavore principles and utilizes only foods that grow in our environment.

The basic diet is built around the permaculture orchard. Here are some of the basic crops the diet would include. Hawaiian names have also been included (though not made up ones adopted from English).

Avocado - Breadfruit ('ulu) - Coconut (niu) - Fig - Mango

Citrus - all varieties - lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange, etc.

Many other small fruit-bearing tropical trees and vines

Bananas / plantain (mai'a)

Papaya (mikana)

Nuts: cashew, macadamia, sapucaia or Paradise Nut (related to the Brasil nut), tropical almond, possibly the Japanese walnut. There are probably others I'm not yet aware of.

Tubers: taro (kalo), sweet potatoes ('uala), canna edulis (pia). Yams and cassava are other possibilities, although they are not very nutritious. These, along with breadfruit are the main foods that need to be cooked,, although sweet potatoes can be eaten raw.

Tomatoes and peppers are perennial plants in the tropics.

There are cucurbits that are perennial; chayote (pipinola), a gourd, and chilacayota, a squash, as well as others.

Some varieties of onions are perennials, as well as garlic and leeks.

Most common herbs are perennial shrubby plants.

Allspice trees grow on Maui and spice trees like clove and cinnamon could be cultivated, as well as ginger. It should be possible to grow cocoa trees there.

Greens include chaya and some perennial kales, among others to be discovered.

Tea grows in Hawaii and many kinds of mint and other herbs for beverages.

Honey. Many vegans reject eating honey on the grounds that it enslaves the bees. If it involved forcing bees to do something they didn't want to do that might be a valid argument, but having kept bees for several years we know that the bees profit as much as the humans from benevolent management and do not particularly object to sharing some of their honey. But commercial beekeeping is not good as the bees are considered expendable for the sake of profit.

A community goal is to eat food that we grow ourselves. A couple books that exemplify our goals in food production:

Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture by Toby Hemenway

The Lost Language of Plants by Stephen Harrod Buhner

Diet is a complex subject and a sensitive one. We try to work with new members as they adjust to our diet.