The whole "oven" is just a pile of stones heated by a wood fire, sealed with nothing but banana leaves to trap the heat and smoke flavor.
Taro, breadfruit, fish, and pork are wrapped in banana leaves and laid over volcanic stones heated in an open fire pit, then covered and left to slow-cook for one to two hours.
Why it's made this way: The umu is Samoa's traditional earth oven, and on the more rural island of Savai'i it remains a routine way to cook family meals rather than an occasional special-event method, as it more often is in urban Apia.
Roughly what's in it
520kcal
28gprotein
40gcarbs
26gfat
Estimated per typical street-vendor portion — not lab-tested.