Without doubt my favorite street food in Papua New Guinea is the PNG saveloy – with chips! And this is because it manages to be at the same time familiar, but extremely local authentic.
And you will see things bloody everywhere and it serves as a mainstay of PNG and Bougainville cuisine, as well as even making itself known in the Solomon Islands.
You can check out English street food here.
WTF is a saveloy?
If you don’t know what a saveloy is then you are really missing out. Essentially it is a heavily seasoned English sausage originally from Switzerland, but now almost exclusively eaten in the Commonwealth.
Therefore they are a big deal in New Zealand, Australia and therefore also Papua New Guinea! If you want the full lowdown on the Saveloy, rather than the PNG saveloy, then click here.
PNG saveloy and fish and chip culture
The saveloy is heavily linked and influenced by UK chip ship culture which has been taken to Australia. Australia does it own thing, but is fairly similar, although with more pies!
PNG though have truly gone of fin the town direction, with a PNG fish and chip shop never actually having any fish. Instead they come at places called Kai Bar’s, with Kai meaning “eat” in Tok Pisin and bar meaning “place” I guess.These places for the most part have chips, but also lose curries, chicken, which is the most popular thing to have with chips and of course saveloys! They also have sweet potatoes which in theory is substitute for chips, but is often had with it as well.
There is also always salt, as well as PNG salt, which I will get to later.
How do you eat a PNG Saveloy?
As stated there are a few different options for how you have your sav, or rather your PNG sav, such as the aforementioned sweet potato, or yam. And it is a truly is an institution that locals love.
In my mind though the best way to have a saveloy in Papua New Guinea is always with chips. PNG chips are also done really well and are true chips rather than Yankee type fries. Sadly though you can rarely get vinegar….
You can though top it with what they call PNG salt, but is actually a cube of maggi seasoning. This is sold everywhere and is used to flavor what can often be quite bland food in Papua New Guinea.
And that is the story of the PNG saveloy one of my favorite street foods in all the world….
Wanna eat a PNG saveloy? Then join me on a tour.