Pumpkin And Rice Porridge

1 Cut pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds, and cut into wedges. Peel the wedges, and cut pumpkin into large chunks.

2 Place pumpkin pieces in a large saucepan, cover with water, and add 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a steady simmer, and cook until pumpkin is tender.

3 Rinse the rice, and add to the pot with the pumpkin along with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cook until the rice is completely tender and the pumpkin is beginning to fall apart.

4 Add the coconut milk and sugar (if using). Stir together, mashing the pumpkin with the back of a spoon until it is broken apart and the rice has a porridge consistency.

Serve warm, heaped in a bowl, with the platter of boiled fish and bok choy.

Boiled Fish With Bok Choy

1 Score sides of the fish with a sharp knife, cutting downward from the back toward the belly, 1/2-inch deep. This allows the cooking liquid to flavor the inside of the fish. Rinse the fish, and set aside.

2 Fill a pot large enough for the fish to be completely covered with water, and bring water to a boil with the salt.

3 Add the fish and bok choy to the boiling water. Cook at a steady boil for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the fish flakes when pierced with a knife and the bok choy is tender. Remove fish and boy choy from the water, and present on a platter. Pull pieces of the flesh off the fish with your fingers or a fork.

Flavors of the Marshall Islands: The John Family

Little more than a year ago, Doris John prepared her family's meal crouched beside an open fire pit with views of the ocean and sounds of children playing freely on the island she called home. Today, she cooks on an electric stove in the multigenerational apartment she shares with her family in Springdale.

Like thousands of Marshallese immigrants, Doris came to Arkansas looking for a better life, and she is adapting to the realities of life in America. The culture shock is a given, but it's the small details that give one pause. Doris uses her dishwasher for kitchen storage and a single dull chef's knife to prepare all of her meals. Instead of wandering the island, the children are confined to their third-floor apartment. A prized family possession is the coconut-grating stool, used for making coconut milk.

Along with a number of her fellow Marshall Island immigrants, Doris works in a factory. And like many Americans, their community struggles with the convenience of fast food and the beckoning tastes of sugar, salt, and everything fried. Diabetes and obesity are endemic to the Marshallese in Springdale, and efforts are underway to educate their community and provide resources for healthy living. Which brings them back to flavors of the island: fish, rice, fresh vegetables, and coconuts. Doris is learning to cook with less sugar and less salt, while still delighting in the foods that taste of the ocean and the open air.