Suva's central markets were buzzing on Saturday, as shoppers jostled to buy coconuts, sweet potatoes in baskets woven from banana leaves and skipjack tuna unloaded from fishing boats bobbing behind the stalls. Traditionally mixed in a wooden bowl with an ornately carved rim, Kava is drunk from hollowed-out halves of coconut shells. Poorer households use a plastic dishwashing bowl for Kava consumption. The solemn Kava ritual involves rhythmic clapping as the drink is shared. But economic uncertainty and thousands of workers being laid off since Speight's rebels stormed Parliament means luxuries like the Pacific Island nation's national drink are being scratched off grocery lists, AP reported.
People are afraid nowadays.
Kava is made by pounding the dried root or stem of the Yaqona plant into a powder and then mixing it with water to form a gritty, gray liquid. Kava is also exported to Europe and the United States to be made into pain relievers, muscle relaxants and other drugs. But even export trade is drying up, Kumar said. People are saying they don't want to buy Fijian Kava since the coup. They can get it from other countries instead.