Meghan gets hands-on to help make traditional Fijian dish

The Duchess of Sussex helped make a traditional breakfast dish at a morning tea as she met representatives from women’s organisations in Fiji.

Meghan was shown how to make lote, made from smoked breadfruit and served either as a breakfast or a dessert.

She was attending a morning tea at the residence of the British High Commissioner in Suva, Fiji, and met a female pilot for Fijian Airways as well as women serving in the armed forces and police.

Cookery trainer Alisi Delai showed the mother-to-be how to scrape coconut flesh and extract the juice with a hot stone to make the meal.

Speaking afterwards, Ms Delai said: “This (lote) is something we Fijians have for breakfast instead of porridge, or as a dessert.

“It is made from smoked breadfruit – the breadfruit that we used was picked from the High Commissioner’s garden yesterday afternoon.

“We have some banana and papaya, and then it is finished with infused coconut, which has had the hot stone added to the grated coconut to release the flavour.

“She wanted to mix all the ingredients together, to participate in making the lote.

“She also enjoyed me demonstrating how we sit with the coconut scraper.

“She found it very interesting, how we use our traditional methods of cooking, and how in Fiji we are very alive with our culture in terms of local cuisine. We like to show the local cuisine by using the local produce.”

Meghan also met a woman who has made a living out of fashioning baskets and bags after her village was destroyed by cyclone Winston in 2016.

Temalesi Vere, 44, who is married with five children, said three people were killed and 98% of the homes were destroyed when the cyclone hit her stretch of the coast in Ra province.

“I told her that the handicraft helped our family, and helped us to earn money,” said Ms Vere.

“She really appreciated what we are doing here.”

Janet Lotawa, the director of Rise From The Reef, an organisation which supports the craftswomen, also met the duchess and said: “She definitely seemed to be interested in marginalised women.

“She seemed pretty adept at understanding the dynamics of economic development for women.”