The traditional foods eaten in Tuvalu are pulaka,[1] which is a "swamp crop" similar to taro,[2] but "with bigger leaves and larger, coarser roots",[3] bananas, breadfruit and coconut.

[4] Tuvaluans also eat seafood, including coconut crab, fish from the lagoon and ocean, seabirds (taketake or black noddy and akiaki or white tern) and also pork.

Fekei is made on all the islands, and consists of pulaka which is grated (typically this is woman's work) with the aid of limestone with holes drilled in it.

Besides rising saltwater levels, "changing lifestyles and eating habits" also threaten the cultivation of the crop,[2] a process that began during and after World War II, when American occupying troops supplied the islands with imported foods and many pulaka pits were no longer maintained.

The Tuvaluans benefited from the canned food supplied by the American forces, although the change in diet continued after the war, which resulted in long term impacts on health.

[10] The diets on Tuvalu's nine widely-spread islands varies, but they are all based on seafood, fish meals and local plants, such as taro.