With Summer heat making its way to most of the country and kids taking a break from school, families are looking for fun new foods that will inspire imaginations. Sometimes the best way to find a little fun and inspiration is to look at a cookbook, especially if it’s themed. Thanks to Disney and Insight Editions, a cookbook will be released June 30, 2026 featuring fun summer meals, snacks, and drinks inspired by Moana! Find it on Amazon.com here (affiliate link)!
The Official Cookbook: Pacific Recipes Inspired by Motunui features several recipes the family will enjoy as they travel the ocean waves of flavor and fun. With the help of Hei Hei, Pua, Moana, and Maui, each recipe includes ingredients and instructions to make creating each delicious food easy. I also love that each recipe is ranked on a difficulty scale of Easy to Highly Advanced. This difficulty level tells me how much effort I will have to put into the meal/snack. If I am not up for a massive Lamb Sapasie (Medium), I can find something more simple to make such as a Tuna Poke (Easy).
Insight Editions seen me this Moana Cookbook, and here is what I think.
Upon receiving Disney Moana: The Official Cookbook: Pacific Recipes Inspired by Motunui (I will call it the Moana Cookbook), my first impression was, WHOA. This is not a small book of a few recipes, this is a large book featuring over 130 pages of Snacks, Mains, Sides, Sweets, and Beverages. It’s almost an overwhelming amount of recipes that are new to me and my family. But I believe that is what gives this cookbook its charm. We are all excited to read and explore another culture through their cuisine.
The Moana Cookbook starts with a simple introduction about why and how this Moana Cookbook was created and how important the movie is to Islanders and the world. This introduction is followed by a description of cuisine in the Pacific and a map of Islands found in the Pacific. Because these ingredients may be a bit foreign to many people seeking to enjoy the foods from Moana, Author Monique Fiso includes an Ingredients Guide to help us find the correct items to make these delicious foods. I want to make a quick note: Thank You for including instructions on how to prepare papayas, mangos, and other foods; this is beyond helpful.
Finishing the education of foods in the Pacific and how to prepare certain foods, the readers are taken on a journey through Moana inspired recipes. We start with Chapter 1, Snacks, featuring Fruits of the Pacific, Taro Chips, and even Maui’s Boat Snacks. I just have to say, I was disappointed that the recipe Boat Snacks didn’t include chicken. We all know Hei Hei was supposed to be a boat snack, and somehow, he evaded that fate. I suppose a delicious seaweed popcorn is the next best thing. It’s an easy recipe and simply requires some coconut oil, dried seaweed powder, popcorn kernels, and sea salt. YUMMMM
Chapter 2 starts the Main course where we find recipes like Chicken Curry, Rukau, Tuna Poke, Watercress Soup, and Huli Huli Chicken. Thankfully, while many of these recipes run medium to advanced, the creators of the Moana Cookbook did include Easy recipes for us unsure cooks. Oka I’a and Tuna Poke are the only two easy recipes, and in my humble opinion, are a welcome site.
Chapter 3 features the ever popular category, Sides. We find Motunui Salads, Papaya Slaw, Poi, Island-Styled= Vegetables, Mango Salsa, and more. There are so many sides, its like the author knew, more than likely, our meals will be just the sides hahaha. With the help of the Ingredients Guide and how to prepare certain foods, the Sides chapter can be more of a breeze than the Main category. For example, the Mango Salsa (pg. 86) is simply diced Mango mixed with onion, garlic, and red chilies topped with olive oil. It is easy to make and sounds so refreshingly good! I think the sides may become my snacks!
Chapter 4 is the chapter I am sure we have all been waiting for. Sure snacks, main dishes, and sides are important, but to truly get a feel for a culture, one has to try their desserts! Chapter 4 features 29 pages of Sweets! From Pineapple Pie to Banana Pudding, the Sweets do not disappoint! One I really want to try is the Voyager Cake (pg. 96). Basically, it’ i’s a coconut cake with a passion fruit syrup. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it. The difficulty is Medium, so hopefully I will have the skills to make this cake in the future. It may take a few tries as cakes are my nemesis.
The Moana Cookbook finishes off the recipe extravaganza with iconic Islander beverages. from Passion fruit Soda to Hibiscus Tea, these beverages are unique and not found in every day beverages where I live. While I tend to avoid floral flavors, they just are a little off putting for me, the Yotai (pg. 124) with watermelon and pineapple sounds absolutely devine. And since it’ i’s an easy beverage to make, I could see myself making an effort to create this delicious treat for me and my family. I will just have to make sure we don’t hyper focus on such a lovely drink and try to keep enjoying new things.
Cookbook Quality Control:
As I stated above, the Moana Cookbook is filled with recipes that explore Islander life and their culture inspired by the Disney Movie, Moana. But I want to take a minute and also focus on the book itself. A cookbook can be a great edition to any family, but how the book is made can either make or break a cookbook. Does the cookbook have a spine that makes the book lay flat so that your hands can be free to create in the kitchen? Are the pages plastic coated so they are easy to wipe off if there is a spill? Are the ingredients and instructions in a large enough font that they can be read from across the kitchen while creating the desired foods? Is the cookbook colorful enough or engaging with photos? There are so many questions that need to be answered to determine if this cookbook will last during family fun.
The Moana Cookbook I received has a hard cover. This is a win. Flappy covers fold, get messy easy, absorb random liquids found on the counter, and take stains as their new personality. A hardcover book can quickly be wiped down and still look decent.
The book I received also had a stiff bind because of the hard cover. This makes keeping the book open a little more difficult. When I opened the book to a recipe in the front or at the end of the book, the pages flip to another recipe. I think this is because the book is so new. To test my theory, I pushed the pages down and creased the bind a bit. This, in fact, made my desired page stay open. This means I can be hands free as my family and I attempted to create new concoctions in the kitchen.
The pages in the Moana Cookbook are definitely more thick than average books and feel as if they have a coating. However, any sauces or liquid will damage these pages. I suggest having a cookbook stand for the Moana Cookbook. It keeps this gem off the counter and safe from disasters that may occur. After all, the colors and images in this cookbook are an array of beautiful art featuring the Moana fandom we will want to enjoy for a while!
The Moana Cookbook gets an A+++++ when it comes to art and images. Throughout the entire cookbook we are welcomed by waves and characters from the Moana movies. From Moana to Pua to Maui, it’s a fan’s dream to cook with those who have inspired this Pacific Islander meals. The Author Monique Fiso, also includes several images featuring many of the meals descried in the book. This helps creators see what the meal should look like, but also helps us decided what we may want to cook. After all, we eat with our eyes before we taste with our mouths… yes that totally made sense.
Of course, with the amount of art in the Moana Cookbook, the list of ingredients and instructions are tiny. These are hard to see from across the kitchen. It isn’t a deal breaker, just have a family member read the next steps if needed. Also if the Moana Cookbook is on a cookbook stand, it makes it easy to prep and create in the same area without worrying about damaging an adorable book.
Overall, The Moana Cookbook gets 5 stars from me! It has a hard cover, nice binding, great pictures, and delicious foods, making this cookbook a recipe for success! To anyone questioning if they wish to add this unique collection of foods to their family recipes, the answer is a resounding yes from this Cookbook reviewer. It is a great way to embark on a culinary adventure with Moana of Motunui with Pacific recipes inspired by Moana and Moana 2!
About The Moana Cookbook
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Insight Editions
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 30, 2026
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Print length ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 0.8 x 10 inches
Purchase here: https://amzn.to/4oUasJz
