Kava exporters share their Pacific culture — "we get rooted"
"Pacific Islanders, like my father, came over to the United States to find a better life … wherever Pacific Islanders go, they take their culture with them." Matt Masifilo told RNZ Pacific.
The US is a lucrative market for kava exporters in the Pacific region, but now at least three entrepreneurs in the US are known to be growing the cash crop.
Matt Masifilo, a Florida based kava grower of Tongan descent, told RNZ Pacific the Pacific Islander diaspora in the US is sharing their cultural heritage.
He said the United States, like any Pacific Island nation, has its own unique kava culture; that being kava served in a pub setting.
"We drink kava the American way," Masifilo said.
"Pacific Islanders, like my father, came over to the United States to find a better life … wherever Pacific Islanders go, they take their culture with them."
Florida's tropical wetlands offer ideal conditions for growing kava.
The state has been dubbed the kava capital of the United States, home to at least 75 kava bars, more than any other US state.
It is a fact that reflects a shift in the demographics of kava drinkers as Florida does not boast a large Pacific community compared to that of the West Coast states of California and Hawaii.
Kava bars are starting to open across the country. This month, Massachusetts is set to welcome its first kava bar, Root Awakening.
"I've been drinking kava since 2016," owner Penny Kmitt told CBS News during a tour of his establishment, which featured Tiki heads and Tanoa cups.
"[You] get a different feeling, not drunk or high, we get rooted," he added.
[courtesy photo]