The Na’vi use fire pits, or txeptseng, to cook food. Ground racks (left), called merki, are used over a txeptseng to smoke meat.
In keeping with meoauniaea, the Na’vi believe that it is vital to honor the animal who gave up its life for the good of the clan. Therefore merki never fall into a state of disrepair or uncleanliness that might indicate a lack of respect for both animal and hunter. Likewise, the clan’s communal fire pit, the ylltxep, must always be hot and ready to receive food.
Merki are made of green wood that is bent into bowed shapes, then held in shape by rope and twine. The arches of wood intersect to increase the strength of the rack. They are decorated with ceremonial seed pods, and wooden hooks used for meat are attached with twine to the tops of the arches.
Caught fish, such as piranha-like srakat (dinicthoid), are cleaned under tents before they are ready for eating.
The poles of the tents have holes which hooks can be inserted into by their ‘T’ shaped handles. Once a fish is cleaned under the tent, a hook is put through its mouth and it is hung on one of the tent poles, ready to be used in cooking. Alternatively, a cleaned fish can be pushed onto a hook which is already on a tent pole.
The Na’vi use cooking pots (below), called huru, for food preparation over coals and fire. They are stoneware pottery, hard-fired in kilns, made from local adobe. Other cooking tools (below) include säseyto (butchering tools), large woven mats that are kept wet and put over the cooking pit to retain heat, and wooden tongs to pick up hot food. Hot ashes can be removed with a scoop.
