Kevin Gould throws on a tropical outfit and makes for the South Pacific to find out about a unique water beloved of snake gods, supermodels and mere mortals.
Illustration by Mel Croft
Fiji is as far away as you can go before coming home again. Fifteen hundred miles from the nearest land mass, the 330 Fijian Islands straddle the International Date Line, punctuating the lapis-blue, unpolluted South Pacific with splashes of green fringed by fairytale, face-powder beaches and neon turquoise reefs. The archipelago that is home to Fiji Water has a god-blessed climate and softly spoken, broadly smiling islanders, making it a sought-after hideaway for the very rich - on my visit I found that a taste for Mojitos and grilled lobster are essential to the Fijian experience.
Fiji Water is brought to thirsty connoisseurs worldwide by Canadian-born bazillionaire David Gilmour, who owns a Fijian island paradise called Wakaya, whose 200 villagers devote themselves to the pleasures of up to 18 privileged guests. One cloudless day on Wakaya, David noticed a guest (a honeymooning Bill Gates, no less) chugging on a bottle of Evian.
"It struck me that I was importing water from 10,000 miles away when, with Fiji's clean air and lack of acid rain, there was most likely a pure water source within 100 miles of where I stood", Gilmour recalls. He commissioned a team of hydrogeologists, who duly tracked down the exceptional water of his imaginings.
Sporting a rather horrid Hawaiian shirt, a batik sarong and three words of Fijian, I step off a jet at Nadi airport on Viti Levu, the largest Fijian island. A trio of ukelele players greet me. They sing falsetto in close harmony and sound like The Darkness - that's Frank Ifield to our older readers - yodelling to a skiffle beat. I am driven past Raymond Burr's apparently world-famous orchid collection (remember Ironside?) and fields of tall, soon-to-be-rum sugar cane on the bumpy road to Yaquara and the Fiji Water source. 'Eggs Is Best, Sir!' announces the hand-painted hoarding that signs the turn-off to our destination. The plantations of the plain give way to the Nakauvadara mountains, where thick rainclouds deposit their load over steamy tapestried mountains, creating Colgate-white waterfalls that pierce the succulent forests, and damp nooks for the Fijian spirits to reside in.
One such spirit - Degi, the omniscient snake god - guards the brand new Fiji Water factory. With infinite sensitivity and the blessing of tribal chiefs, David Gilmour has built his bott- ling plant to international ecological standards directly over the source. The 450-year-old water is carefully, steadily being harvested from the enormous aquifer below, yet from the outside all is silent. Degi remains undisturbed.
What so concentrated the hydrogeologists' excitement was that Fiji Water contains serious amounts of colloidal silica. To the garishly shirted layman, silica is explained as the mineral that governs the body's attempts to regenerate itself. Collidal silica is the mineral in its most absorbable form and contributes to the butter-smooth texture and sweet character of the water. This also explains why Fiji Water is the accessory of choice for The Beautiful People - supermodels swear that it makes their skin elastic and retards the ageing process.
But it's not only supermodels who benefit. Thanks to Gilmour, the Fijian exchequer earns oodles of foreign currency (US sales of Fiji Water are growing faster than those of any other imported premium water) and the commu-nities around Yaquara have sound employment prospects and a great model for economic development. On top of this, the company's philanthropy has helped build five local kindergartens, as well as establishing a trust fund to back local projects such as improved sanitation and scholarships for teachers and students.
Try it for yourself - Fiji Water is quenching and delicious, not to mention virtuous and efficacious. It is from a beautiful, far-away place, and is the true taste of an island paradise.
User's guide
- Chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Nobu Matsuhisa not only serve Fiji to their customers, but also use it in their kitchens. Nobu cooks his rice in it, while Fiji is the key to Vong's famously light filo pastry.
- Bring out the nuances of single malt whiskies by marrying them to room-temperature Fiji.
- Part of the secret behind Fiji's palatability lies in its pH of 7.5. Most bottled waters have a lower pH than that of your body, which helps explain why they can make you feel bloated or acidic. Fiji's pH is slightly more alkaline, hence your body accepts it gratefully.
- If you think that any or all of the above might be just so much nonsense, try the taste test: take a bottle of Fiji and a bottle of any other bottled still water. Taste the Fiji first, then taste the other. Now do you see what I mean?