A couple of weeks ago we went to one of the Pacific islands that lost its kava culture 150 years ago with the arrival of the European missionaries. But while nobody drinks kava there today, we have good reasons to believe that their forests still have some of the ancient local cultivars and hence we wanted to try to find them. We weren't very successful (i.e. didn't manage to find the actual plants), but found people who might be able to assist us with future searches and/or even send us some samples. On the way back to Auckland I had a bit of time so I finally managed to read a series of articles by Kirk Huffman, a prominent anthropologist and a respected expert on kava's history, culture and modern use. Kirk presents a very interesting overview of kava's history and effects as well as a thought-provoking account of the developments that led to kava's increasing popularity and the so-called "ban" in Europe (now lifted).

I thought you might find some of his observations interesting, so I've collected a few longer quotes:

Many new kava users are very confused by the great variety of kava types, strains and forms and often need to spend hours online trying to figure out which kava to try. We've decided to write this quick article to sum up some of the basic info on the differences between various kavas available on the market. 

Nicholas Ross Smith, a lecturer at the University of Auckland and the Auckland University of Technology and one of the founding members of our Society is no stranger to public speaking (both at the university and in the NZ media) and to performance anxiety. We've asked him to share some of his thoughts on whether kava could be of any use in such situations. 

A guest Post by Garry Stoner of TK Labs. 

As its popularity increases, you don't have to look very far to find someone who's "tried" kava. Both in person and online, many are giving their account of kava experiences. But the sad thing is, many are wrong - they haven't actually tried kava. Kava, in one form or another, is available from a vast number of sources, but a surprisingly small percentage of products actually qualify as true kava, at least in the South Pacific sense.

According to some of the most respected kava scientisits and popular knowledge kava was first domesticated thousands of years ago on the islands of what we know today as The Republic of Vanuatu. Not surprisingly, Vanuatu until today boasts one of the most vibrant kava cultures in the world. The islands of Vanuatu are known not only for a great variety of different kava strains, but also for their famous kava rituals and practices. Vanuatu is also known as practically the only place in the South Pacific where kava is made from fresh (i.e. not dried) roots. As such, it has both a unique flavour and incredible potency. In late December some of us decided to travel there to learn more about the local kava scene and talk to some of the local kava drinkers, farmers and vendors. Below we publish a few of the key observations we made in between shells of fresh kava.