Kava - the ancient spiritual drink

(24 Aug 2012) It gives you a high without dulling the mind or causing aggression - that's according to the natives of Vanuatu in the South Pacific.
They're talking about kava - a drink said to bring you closer to your god that has been enjoyed by the locals for centuries.

Vanuatu, a nation of south Pacific islands some 1,750 kilometres (1087 miles) from Australia is so remote and unique that almost everything is done differently from the outside world.
Including things like relaxation and socialising.
These original Melanesian inhabitants are imbibing a root drink called Kava, that they say is a preferable alternative to alcohol - giving you a high without the aggression and problems that can come from alcohol.
Ofer Shagan, an Israeli based in Tokyo, was adopted as an honorary chief of a Vanuatu village after several business visits to the island. He often presides over rituals.
He explains that the drinking of Kava is actually a religious experience:
"It seems like in most countries in the South Pacific the plant called kava, originally it's the name of a local god of the South Pacific, Kava Kava. It was always considered as a holy spirit; that whoever drinks it get influenced or actually gets in touch with their god and through him with his own ancestors. It's a channel through the god Kava to reach communication with your ancestors."
Kava is harvested from the roots of the Kava plant which is native to the forest.
Villagers cut and mash the roots. Water is added and then the cream-coloured drink is filtered off.
Shagan explains: "To start with we need to raise the plant for at least 6 years. We are using only the root. And we cut it to small pieces. We mash it. We get the liquid out of it. We clean the liquid through a fabric and the liquid that comes through it, this is what we actually drink."
Ken is the son of a native Rano Village Chief. He says drinking Kava is an integral part of village social life in Vanuatu.
"If we make, we walk for somebody, and he said he need the help, so go walk, we find small kava, make a juice, end of the day we have small kava, we eat and then we go to bed. That's the system in the village. That's how we use the kava. But in Port Villa, the kava bar they make money out of it."
Aladi Gedinye is the daughter of the owner of Last Flight Naka Dream Kava Bar in Port Villa.
She says: "It's almost been 4 years we've been open. We have heaps of different people from everywhere that come. We have English, French. There's Korean and Chinese as well that come here. So it's very a mixture of people that drink kava here."
Like in the forest, people like to come to relax after a hard day of work and to socialise with friends over a glass of kava.
"It's where mostly people after work they come. Just to drink one or two shots, just so they can relax after a hard day of work," says Gedinye.
Advocates for Kava like local Vanuatuan Robert says the high you get from the drink is less aggressive than that from alcohol:
"The kava, it doesn't taste nice. But the feeling of it you feel like you are up in the air somewhere. That's why people come to drink kava. And the kava is very much different from alcohol. When you drink alcohol there is too much noise and all that. When you drink kava you like to stay in a quiet place."
But Kava is not without its detractors.
Scientific studies have shown that kava does have sedative and anaesthetic properties because of the presence of ingredients called kavalactones.
Whilst sedating, these ingredients do not impede mental clarity in the same debilitating way as alcohol.

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