As you all may have figured out by now, we spend a lot of time playing with bush knives. The bush knife is the essential tool in any Vanuatu toolbox. It can be used for such varied purposes as gardening, opening coconuts, husking coconuts, opening nahvel nuts, building a fence, disciplining children, cutting down timber and skinning a pineapple. We spend a lot of time with our bush knives.

We decided to try some video footage. On the theory that a picture is worth a thousand words and I don’t have that much time to write while in Vila, here is Jason opening a nahvel.

They taste a little like an almond, except you eat them raw which makes them crisper and less crunchy. They come into season every few months. There seems to be some kind of nut in season pretty much all year, at the moment it is this one. In a few weeks, I’m hoping the ngaiy will come back in season. They are my favorite.