Kava Guru's Articles

In the beginning – a long, long time ago there was kava kava in its most raw and untamed, wildly beautiful and organic form, Piper wichmannii.   The exact origin of Piper wichmannii seems to be indeterminate, although mythical accounts speak of heroes and gods as the  beings responsible for introducing Piper wichmannii to the South Pacific regions, having imported it from some far off nation or spiritual realm [6, p. 14-15].

Although I have reviewed many sources – an exact date or date range does not seem to be identifiable for when or where wild kava kava (Piper wichmannii) was first used before it was domesticated.  As Yadhu Singh, who writes about kava at great length and across many well-cited texts, says: “Kava usage itself is much older than any documented history of this part of the world and oral traditions do not seem to have brought forward relevant, reliable, or consistent accounts” [6, p. 51].

The first dated records of domesticated kava kava (Piper methysticum) surface with the colonization of the South Pacific Islands in the 17^th and early 18^th century [7, p. 108].  Captain James Cook made records in the 18^th century about his visit to the South Pacific that explained the narcotic effects of the kava plant that were experienced by his crewmembers upon ingestion – this log was dated for 1785.  Additionally, there is an even earlier log (1769) of a drawing by Captain Cook’s botanist of the kava plant and it can still be viewed in the London Natural History Museum today [6, p. 5].

John Lynch discusses at some length the linguistic history of the word “kava” and concludes that this information may give some idea of the plant’s domestic origins.  It is possible that the word “kava” has its roots in the Proto-Oceanic term kawaRi – which may refer to the wild kava (Piper wichmannii) that domesticated kava was derived from.  If this is the case, then it is likely that the original use of kava in its wild form was specific to the Oceanic region of Melanesia – and more specifically to Papua New Guinea.   However, botanical evidence seems to suggest that kava kava was first domesticated in Vanuatu [4].  So, ultimately – it seems to be indisputable that kava kava is Oceanic in domestic origin and specifically Melanesian, but whether or not it was first domesticated in Vanuatu or New Guinea is unclear.

Domesticated kava kava or the kava kava that we are all familiar with – Piper methysticum – is consistently referenced as having its origins in Vanuatu.  Although, some sources do fall more in line with the view that domesticated kava kava originated in New Guinea [4].  However, the argument for the Vanuatu origin does make a strong case, by suggesting that New Guinea did not have the resources necessary for domesticated kava cultivation [4]. And given that domesticated kava is dependent upon human interaction for survival [7, p. 108], I would say that this line of argument is also quite possible.

As Lynch mentions, this seems to lead to two veins of thought on the origin of domesticated kava: the origin within Papua New Guinea, and the origin within Vanuatu – neither can be wholly substantiated [4].  As Singh said, kava kava “…might be considered the one item in their material culture that linked together most of the peoples of Oceania” [7, p. 13], indicating just how widespread the use of kava was and still is.

The Historical Usage:

Historically kava kava was primarily used for ceremonial/ritualistic and sociopolitical purposes, although kava kava has also been used for medicinal purposes as far back as the domesticated origins of kava kava.  The ceremonial procedures revolved around a link to indigenous gods and the overall spirituality of the Oceanic peoples – such as an honoring of ancestry. Traditionally, the root and lower parts of kava kava are dried in the sun and then broken down into a powder that is then steeped in water.  The mixture is then massaged and strained using hibiscus tree bark and  distributed in half coconut shells.   However, during less ritualistic ceremonies, such as the installment of chiefs or resolution of conflicts, a cloth is often used instead of the hibiscus tree bark [8, p. 109-110]

The Banning:

Because of the link to non-Christian gods and other spiritual purposes of using kava kava – such as the initiation or lifting of curses – Christian missionaries that first landed in the 17^th and 18^th centuries proceeded to ban all use and growth of Piper methysticum.  Some missionary groups went so far as to buy kava kava plantations and then have them destroyed. Given the necessity of domesticated strains to be cultivated by humans, the plant died out in many areas across the Oceanic islands due to this forced neglect. Where blatant methods of destruction did not suffice to eradicate all of the plants, missionaries took to attacking the “unsanitary” method of kava preparation – namely, the chewing and spitting of the root into a communal bowl (the saliva aided in the breaking down of the plant’s active substances) [7, p. 113].

However, this monotheistic banning of kava kava was not universal across the islands and some Christian denominations actually began to incorporate the use of kava kava in their own ceremonies [7, p. 115].  I think that this sporadic acceptance of kava kava as well as the colonial accumulation of foreign materials is likely how kava first began to trickle from the South Pacific islands into European countries and elsewhere.

European and Western History:

However, it wasn’t until about 30-40 years ago that kava kava began to seep out of the South Pacific and grow in popularity in the Western and European world.  Kava kava first began to gain popularity locally as the South Pacific Islands gained their political independence and adopted the Piper methysticum plant as a kind of national identifier.   As immigrants from these South Pacific regions began immigrating to the United States and Europe, kava kava began to gain popularity amongst South Pacific cultural pockets within those regions. Once herbal medicine became more widely accepted and gained popularity within the United States and European nations, kava kava naturally grew in popularity as well [6, p. 43-44], and was primarily sought as an alternative to pharmaceutical treatments of anxiety and other neurological disorders.

The Commercialization of Kava:

Kava bars initially began developing across the South Pacific islands and local regions [11].  As these regions gained political independence and adopted the Piper methysticum plant as their national identifier, kava became more and more a socially used plant – although it does still retain its medicinal and ceremonial use [6, p. 43].  As kava became socialized, so to speak, so did the places where it would be frequently consumed – hence the birth of the “kava bar”.

The kava bar has very recently begun making an appearance in Europe and the United States.  Nakava, initially named Nakamal, was the first kava bar to open its doors in the United States of America in 2002 and it has since gained a Floridian following for kava kava – a popularity that has since seeped into other states and will likely continue to grow [1].

A Look to the Future:

Although kava has been banned in Australia and many European countries, such as the ban in Germany as of 2002 [9], there has recently been a growing acceptance of the plant and some European bans were lifted in 2008 [5].   As of yet, there hasn’t been any entirely concrete evidence indicating why kava kava should be banned and it is growing in popularity as a casual drink at kava bars and in European and Western homes.   Furthermore, kava kava has been growing in popularity as a medicinal alternative to Western anxiety medication. German physicians prescribed kava kava as early as 1990 [10].

Many Oceanic countries are driving toward universal acceptance of kava kava and have succeeded in many cases.  Initially the bans greatly agitated the kava trade and production within Oceanic countries, with a claimed annual net loss of $US200 million [9].  This loss was recorded in 2003, just after the 2002 European bans, which would then suggest that these bans greatly affected the kava-growing and trading regions.  However, this would also suggest that with the lifting of many European bans in 2008, the trade will greatly grow and kava culture will likely become stronger and more pronounced as it is more widely accepted.  Additionally, one of the most prominent issues that the European and Western world has had with kava is the lack of standardization.  But, as of 1999 the South Pacific regional organization,  Pacific Island Kava Council, had a meeting and agreed upon publishing a producer’s manual for standardization purposes [6, p. 40-41].

As standardization methods are increased and conspirator scares deflated, it is safe to say that Piper methysticum will live on forever and ever, to give the people of this world all of the calming and beautiful benefits that the peoples of the South Pacific islands have enjoyed for many upon many peaceful centuries past.

Mahalo,

Kava Guru

REFERENCES

1. Bula Kafe. “What is a Kava Bar?” Last modified: October 25, 2010. http://www.bulakafe.com/general-info/what-is-a-kava-bar.html

2. Ives, Laurel. “Make Mine a Kava”.  Sunday Times, London UK: January 31, 2000.  Ed. 1GZ.

3. Krape, Micheal. “Taste of Kava Culture”. Sunday Herald Sun: October 14, 2007.

4. Lynch, John. “Potent Roots and the Origin of Kava”. University of Hawai’i Press: December, 2002. Oceanic Linguistics, Vol. 41 – 2, pp. 493-513.

5. Pollock, Nancs J. “Sustainability of the Kava Trade”.  University of Hawai’i Press: Fall of 2009.  The Contemporary Pacific, Vol. 21 pp. 265-297.

6. Singh, Yadhu N. “Kava: from ethnology to pharmacology”. Taylor and Francis LTD: 2004.

7. Singh, Yadhu N. “Kava: an overview”. Elsevier Scientific Publishers Ireland Ltd: 1992.  Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Vol. 37 pp. 13-45.

8. Singh, Yadhu N. “Kava: An Old Drug in a New World”. University of Minnesota Press: winter of 2009. Cultural Critique, No. 71 pp. 107-128

9. The Fiji Times. “Europe Lifts Ban on Kava”. Suva, Fiji: November 2008. Ed. 17

10. The Province. “Kava is Hot Stuff – Final Edition”.  Vancouver, B.C: January 27, 1999. Ed. B13

11. Wikipedia. “Kava Culture – Vanuatu”. Last modified: February 26, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kava_culture

The question, “Where did kava originate?” has long been of interest to Kava scholars who have done dedicated research on the plant. The quest for a definitive Kava origin has been complicated by the fact that Oceanic cultures have an oral rather than written history [5] —scholars couldn’t conveniently check an indigenous historical record to trace Kava’s origin the way they could with tea or coffee, both of which are surrounded by rich written histories! It was Kava scholar Vincent Lebot who first traced Kava’s origin to northern Vanuatu [2]. More recent botanical and biochemical evidence has helped solidify Vanuatu as the most likely place of origin for kava kava, and Vanuatu has become the most accepted place of origin [3].

Aside from the evidence briefly outlined above – which I will later go into in more detail – there isn’t much else to go by in determining the origin of kava kava as we know it. We know Kava as a drink made from a root of a pepper plant called Piper methysticum, and it is the exact origin of this drink and its uses that escapes us along with the physical origin of Piper methysticum. However, the mythological accounts of kava kava – prior to cultivated uses – do offer a fantastical account of how the wild version of Kava (Piper wichmannii) was graced upon our earth by deities and god’s [6]. But, it is the exact origin of Piper methysticum – the cultivated version of the wild plant – that I will be concerned with here.

Origin Possibilities:

Kava kava (Piper methysticum) is a member of the pepper family Piperaceae, and early taxonomists attempted to trace Kava’s origin to regions of the world where other pepper species were found. Some early (but now generally discounted) theories speculated that Kava originated in South India or Southeast Asia, regions where the pepper species Piper nigrum (black pepper) and Piper longum (long pepper) are found. These arguments trace the similarities of ceremonial and ritualistic procedures in each culture. One scholar suggested an Asian origin for Kava by linking the Kava ceremony to the Chinese tea ceremony [7]! And another scholar outlines the similarities of Kava drinking ceremonies to the ancient Vedic religion of India. There is one ritualistic rule governing Vedic ceremonial traditions that declares that an older brother must offer a sacrifice before his younger brother does and this declaration is directly in line with the order of brothers in a Kava ring ceremonial procedure [5].

One author – John Lynch – actually goes so far as to say that the argument of origin is clearly divided in two: one line arguing for a New Guinea origin and another arguing for an origin in Vanuatu. As was indicated in the introduction, most scholars have accepted Vanuatu as the true origin and Lynch is among those scholars [4]. While I will later go into more detail about why Vanuatu has been accepted as the true origin, I will here briefly outline why there is such a pervasive argument about a possible New Guinea origin.  It is widely accepted that Piper methysticum (cultivated Kava) was domesticated and adapted from Piper wichmannii (wild Kava). Quite simply put, the most prevailing evidence to suggest that domesticated Kava originated in New Guinea is that the largest diversity of wild Kava is found there; New Guinea has the single most diverse population of the Piper wichmannii plant. As the theory goes, Piper methysticum cannot self propagate or at least very rarely does so; the Piper methysticum plant requires human interaction in order to continue growth and adaptation [4]. In fact, domestic varieties of kava kava are said to essentially be sterile and can only be propagated by grafting or dividing the root bundle of a parent plant [2]. Furthermore, there are forty variants of words intended to refer to Kava in New Guinea that have so far been recorded [5]. So, these bits of information have led some scholars to conclude then that New Guinea must be the place of origin of Kava. However, Lynch along with other authors such as Vincent Lebot, still side with the argument that leans toward Vanuatu as the origin of Kava.

Accepted Origin:

Lebot used morphological evidence to argue that kava kava likely originated on Vanuatu [2]. Lebot observed that Vanuatu grows over 80 morphotypes of Kava — Kava strains that are distinguishable based on their physical appearance. In contrast, other South Pacific regions Lebot examined have far fewer morphotypes: 12 in Fiji, 7 in Tonga, and 6 in Samoa. Furthermore, there is also a much greater diversity of names for kava kava in local Vanuatuan languages, which Lebot took to mean that Kava had more time to diversify and spread on Vanuatu than elsewhere. Finally, Vanuatu is also home to two wild varieties of kava kava, while other South Pacific Islands have no wild Kava varieties at all. As a result, Lebot suggests that Vanuatu may have been the point of origin for domestic Kava, which was then spread to other South Pacific islands by trade [2]. Lynch goes on to say then that, if this Vanuatu origin of Kava were correct, Kava would have arrived in New Guinea via Micronesia and Polynesia or perhaps even from Vanuatu through the Soloman Islands [4].

Chemotype Specifics:

Current researchers are trying to narrow down Kava’s point of origin even further within the Vanuatuan archipelago, with some favoring an origin on Maewo Island, or possibly Pentecost Island [3]. This research is focused on identifying clusters of specific Kava chemotypes as a reliable way of determining both Kava’s origin and the pattern in which it spread to other regions of the South Pacific [3]. The Kava Guru understands chemotype to be a very useful tool in identifying different strains of plants and other organisms. While a morphotype refers to strains of a single species that differ in their outward characteristics, a chemotype means a variety of organism (commonly a plant or microorganism) that produces a chemical metabolite that distinguishes it as a class from other varieties of the same species [1]. In essence, plants of the same species can be different chemotypes, meaning they can have the same physical appearance but a different chemical makeup.

In Kava’s case, different chemotypes are defined based on the ratios of kavalactones in their roots. There are five known chemotypes of kava kava, all of which contain differing ratios of kavalactones in their roots. As it turns out, all five chemotypes are represented among the Kava varieties grown in Vanuatu [3]. Kava’s five distinct chemotypes are not found in one place anywhere else in the South Pacific, which further suggests that kava kava may have originated and diversified on Vanuatu before being spread to other South Pacific regions.

Well, there you have it: not only does Vanuatu grow some of the strongest, most medicinal Kava on the market, it may very well be kava kava’s original home. That would certainly explain Vanuatu Kava’s notable, mouth-numbing potency! And with that thought, the Kava Guru is off to the nakamal for the evening…

Mahalo,

Kava Guru

REFERENCES

1. “Chemotype.” Wikipedia, Accessed March 6th, 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemotype.

2. Lindstrom, Lamont, Vincent Lebot, and Mark David Merlin. Kava: The Pacific Elixir – The Definitive Guide to its Ethnobotany, History and Chemistry. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1992.

3. Lindstrom, Lamont. “History, Folklore, Traditional and Current Uses of Kava”, in Kava: From Ethnology to Pharmacology, edited by Yadhu N. Singh. CRC Press, 2004.

4. Lynch, John. “Potent Roots and the Origin of Kava”. Oceanic Linguistics, Vol. 41 (2): December, 2002, p. 493-518.

5. Singh N. Yadhu. “Kava: An Overview”. Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Vol. 37: 1992, p. 13-45.

6. Singh, Yadhu N. “Kava: from ethnology to pharmacology”. Taylor and Francis LTD: 2004.

7. “What is kava?” Kavaroot.com. Accessed March 6th, 2014. http://www.kavaroot.com/what-is-kava