-It really has been, you know, this journey in learning and discovering my biological heritage.

That's amazing.

-Yeah.

-This is Samoa.

-[ Laughing ] This is Samoa.

-Yeah.

-Every dish has a story.

Food brings people together and has the power to conjure up cherished memories.

-♪ No combination of words ♪ ♪ I could put on the back of a postcard ♪ ♪ No song that I could... ♪ -This is Samoa.

-[ Laughing ] This is Samoa.

-I was born and raised in the Hawaiian Islands, one of the most diverse communities in the world.

-♪ I'll tell you one thing ♪ ♪ It's so much better when we're together ♪ -In this show, we'll meet a guest from Hawaii, learn about their favorite dish, and have some fun along the way.

-♪ Yeah, we're so much better when we're together ♪ ♪ Mm, mm, mm, mm ♪ ♪♪ -Greg Louganis is more than an Olympic legend.

Four-time Olympic gold medalist, author, actor, advocate, and, apparently, he's still full of surprises.

There's another chapter to Greg's story, and this one takes us across the Pacific to American Samoa.

-Welcome, welcome, welcome.

-Thanks for having me.

-It is my first time traveling to this Pacific Island.

But why American Samoa?

And what does it have to do with Greg Louganis?

-So, my name is Greek -- Gregory Efthimios Louganis.

Very Greek.

-Very.

-And I was raised Greek.

I'm adopted.

So, I spent my first nine months in foster care.

And then, the Louganises found me.

In 1960, most couples were looking for blond-haired, blue eyed babies, not babies that look like me.

My mother, she wanted her children to reflect my dad, who was Greek.

And so, you know, they chose me.

♪♪ 1984, I won two gold medals.

And then, I was in Hawaii, doing an appearance for Speedo.

And so my host came to me and said, "Greg, your father's here."

I said, "My father's not here.

He would have told me if he was coming to Hawaii," you know?

He said, "No, no, no, your biological father."

I was like, "Oh.

Okay."

♪♪ 'Cause I always wanted to meet my dad.

-Right.

-I was always interested in meeting my dad because I knew that he -- he wanted me.

You know, connecting with my biological father, who's Samoan.

And then, I heard that they were doing a Lutu family reunion.

-In Hawaii?

-In Hawaii.

-Okay.

-And I reached out to my half brother, Malcolm.

I said, "Malcolm, do you think it'd be okay if I -- if I came to the reunion?"

And he goes, "Oh, my God!

If you talk about us, then we can talk about you."

So, it really has been this -- you know, this journey in learning and discovering my biological heritage.

♪♪ -That kind of leads us to where we're headed... -Yep.

-...to American Samoa, to dive a little bit deeper into your Lutu roots.

How are you feeling about that?

Anxious, excited?

-Never been to Samoa.

And so, I mean, to be able to go with my brother and experience that... -Your brother was raised in Hawaii.

So you guys are going to be doing this together.

-Together.

-That's excellent.

-He's helping me navigate this whole journey.

-This show has traditionally started with a food item.

Like, we always say, "Every dish tells a story," and we're kind of doing it in reverse, where you don't have those memories yet, and we have the opportunity now to go to American Samoa and taste these food and meet these people and create these memories.

-Yeah, to cultivate those experiences.

-Exactly.

-Right?

-Well, let's go to American Samoa.

-Yeah.

Let's.

-[ Laughs ] -Let's go.

-All right.

♪♪ -Hey!

This is my brother, Malcolm.

-Malcolm.

I heard we're from the same neighborhood.

-Close by, yeah.

-Right.

-Ran into my dad.

-I've seen him walking up and down... ♪♪ So, we arrive in American Samoa.

No air-conditioned jet bridge.

The old kind of stairs that come down right down to the tarmac and are just immediately engulfed in dampness.

Humid much?

-Yeah, really.

-Got the wind.

-Oh, my... We are definitely closer to the equator than Hawaii.

-Yeah.

-Got our bags.

The minute the doors open up to the public space... [ Cheering ] ♪♪ I had been warned that we would see this, but it was actually even greater in magnitude than I had imagined.

If this first experience is any indication of what we have ahead of us, this is going to be mind-blowing.

♪♪ We are going to get a tour of the island with one of Greg's nephews, Carl Schuster.

He was an American and Samoan history instructor, so there's really no better person I would think of.

-So, Carl, you said this is the main road?

-Yes, this is the main highway road.

The only thing is, the roads don't connect.

Don't connect.

It's just from one end to the other.

-Yeah.

-So everything on the opposite side of this mountain is just untamed, untouched.

-Wow.

Wow.

-Right now, we're going through one of the biggest villages in American Samoa.

It's Nu'uuli.

But we only have like maybe 3 or 4 big villages like this.

Foreigners are not allowed to own land in American Samoa.

It's only local residents are allowed to own land.

-Oh, really?

-That's another one of the things that keeps us, you know, close-knit and our traditions kind of still safe.

Even though we're a territory of the United States, we're still an unincorporated territory, which we still have our matai system, we still elect our senators through matai statuses.

-Mm-hmm.

-A lot of our cultural aspects of our living is still intact.

♪♪ -And we head up this hill, this winding road, through this densely vegetated neighborhood, and we pull into this driveway, which turns out to be the family home.

And it just opens up to this incredible panoramic view.

♪♪ My gosh.

Look.

-Yeah.

This is incredible.

-This is beautiful.

-This is.

It's amazing.

-And to think that only this half of the island is inhabited.

On the other side of the mountain range, he said, it's only accessible by boat.

♪♪ One other thing that really stands out is, each one of these homes has, in many cases, a burial plot right on site.

-We don't really like to put them too far away from us.

We want to be close to them as much as possible.

And Christmas, Thanksgiving, we all have it out here.

-Everyone's together, yeah.

-Everybody's together like they never left.

You know?

♪♪ -You used to have a cable car, yeah?

-Yeah.

And it used to go up to there, yeah.

♪♪ -Talofa.

It's an honor to meet you.

I've watched your -- the Olympics.

-Yeah.

-I told my kids.

"That's -- we're related to him."

[ Laughter ] In fact, he has a nephew who's named after Louganis.

-Oh.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -Hey, Carl, it seems like everybody here is related in some way or another.

-In some way?

Yes.

In one way or the other?

Yes.

It's hard to find your wife or hus-- [ Laughs ] You have to find out if you're related first.

-Yeah?

Oh, my God.

-[ Laughs ] How does this part of the world deal with, like, diversity, homosexuality, or transgender?

-Your uncle, Leroy Lutu, he was the biggest advocate.

He accepted them.

He took them in.

If they were being pushed out by their family because of it, he would take them in.

-Yeah.

-And being a Lutu, nobody disrespected Uncle Leroy.

Being Samoan, you know, it's all about love.

Whatever you want to become, that's who you're going to become.

We love you for that.

-Yeah.

♪♪ [ Jazz music plays ] -Today, we have the opportunity to travel up over these very steep mountains that divide the north and the south and visit a little village on the other side known as Fagasa.

-Hello.

-Aloha.

Good morning.

-Talofa lava.

-Ameko Melatei'a, the mayor of the village.

-Talofa lava, Greg Louganis.

-I'm a policeman for our village.

-You're gonna keep us safe.

-Yes.

-We're safe.

-Who knows?

-[ Laughs ] -Who knows?

Who knows?

-Something happen.

-You never know.

[ Laughter ] You never know.

The main reason that we've come to Fagasa is to meet a young Gen Z female Olympic swimmer by the name of Tilali Scanlan.

-So, we're with the National Park Service of American Samoa, and we do a lot of research here, particularly in the marine zones and this village of Fagasa.

They've allowed us to come and do some research on corals and some of the wildlife here.

-My understanding is that you are a fellow Olympian.

-Yes.

So, not quite as decorated as our famous world diver here.

[ Laughter ] But, yes, I've participated in the Tokyo Olympics as the first female swimmer from American Samoa.

-And so here's the plan of attack.

We're gonna go in on the other side of the bridge by those stairs.

And it's great.

The tide's coming in, which is good because that'll give us enough clearance over the reef.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -She can stay down for minutes on end.

I would take like 3 or 4 breaths in the time she came up.

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ -Right now, we've been researching a lot on the current coral bleaching.

We have such a beautiful island here, and we're surrounded by these wonderful coral reefs, but, unfortunately, for an island that contributes so little to the impact of climate change in the world, we are seeing the impacts at our shores.

This is very important that we research this and try to, you know, stop it as much as we can.

-And coral bleaching's a result of the warming ocean.

-That's correct.

So what happens to the corals, break it down, is it gets too hot, and their little buddies in there that help them survive, they just evacuate.

And some of those, they give that coral that color.

And so when you see the coral, what we call bleached or white, it's the absence of that.

And without those little buddies, a lot of corals can't make it.

Some species, like what we call like giant clams or, in Samoan, faisua, which is a delicacy.

We love to eat them.

Unfortunately, they're also facing those effects.

So in terms of food security, this is also very important that we research this.

Like I said, we're a small island.

We are affected so much by climate change.

♪♪ -My mother always taught me "Make everywhere you go better because you were there."

And that's something that I try and live.

It can be in the smallest and largest way.

And sustainability is huge.

Being kind to the environment, you know, there's no greater kindness that you can practice to ourselves and others but also to the planet.

♪♪ -Carl, you guys have been busy since we were here yesterday.

-Yeah, we've been up since 5:00 this morning.

This is our outside kitchen.

♪♪ -We got to try coconut rice for the first time.

-Yes.

-Notice when they scrape it, they want to scrape it evenly.

So they'll always rotate the cup.

So the juice from the coconut helps us soften up the meat inside, so when we squeeze it, all the milk will come out.

-You know, you've heard the health benefits of coconut.

-Oh, yeah.

-Just taking MCTs, medium chain triglycerides... -Yeah, yeah.

-...good healthy fats and everything.

-Yeah, yeah.

-They've known this for years, and we haven't.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -Look how creamy it is.

-Yeah.

I mean, it's so fresh.

It's so nice.

-It's so simple and so good.

-Yeah.

No comparison.

That's amazing.

-Mmm.

See, this is the essence.

We don't even have rice flavor in this.

Oh, man.

-Good.

-Give me a cup.

-[ Laughs ] Oh.

Oh, my.

♪♪ -Oh, okay.

Yeah.

That's amazing.

Okay, I'm gonna finish it.

-"I'm gonna finish it."

[ Laughs ] -So, that's just a taste.

Wait till big show tomorrow.

We'll have a lot of stuff cooking tomorrow, yeah.

♪♪ So, this is what we'll be cooking in the umu tomorrow.

This is taro and our breadfruit.

And then, the bananas will go in whole.

Some bananas go in whole, some we'll take off the skin, and we'll bake it straight on the rocks.

-Nice.

-These are just like our starch for every meal that we have, 'cause we'll also be having a pig, lamb, chicken.

All of it will go inside.

-Right there.

-All right there.

-How many people you think this could feed?

-We could feed a whole village.

So, for tomorrow's function, we'll have coconut to drink to go along with your meal.

Perfect.

Perfect Samoan feast.

-Yes.

♪♪ It's still dark out.

And we come up the road to Carl Schuster's.

And there they were.

The same guys that we left the night before are back at it again.

They'd made incredible progress on what we left them with the night before, but there was still a lot to be done.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Perfect.

You're a natural at it.

-Good?

-Good, good.

So now we're gonna have you guys scraping the taro clean.

-The tuna can.

-Yes.

-Oh, I love it.

-So you scrape it until it's white?

-Yeah.

-Good.

Perfect.

You remember all the coconut milk?

This is where we're going to use most of it, the palusami and the fai'i pilikaki.

-Okay.

So, five -- five leaves.

-So those are the baby taro leaves that we use to wrap the palusami.

And you make a cup.

So they seasoned the coconut milk with, like, salt and onions for the palusami.

Yeah, we use the foil now, but that's how we wrap it traditionally.

-See?

-Wow.

-Beautiful.

-We're gonna start the fire now.

♪♪ Everybody has their own responsibility.

Everybody has their own assignment.

We still got the coconuts going.

We got the breadfruit, taro, chicken, lamb.

-People are gonna come, ready to eat like by 10:00.

-10:00.

-So, we have three hours to do all this work.

-Yes.

-I think you're crazy.

[ Both laugh ] -I'll prove you wrong.

I'll prove you wrong.

-Right now, my heart is starting to go like this.

"Okay, we got to pick it up."

[ Laughs ] -You notice how my heart is calm.

-I know!

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ -Everything is going to go around the pig -- taro, banana, breadfruit, palusami.

-So they put the pig on the banana Sticks in the hottest part.

-Yes.

-'Cause that probably takes the longest.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Oh, here's something sizzling already.

The laplap is already cooking.

Smell it.

Oh, man.

♪♪ -Quick, quick.

♪♪ -As we're loading the umu, Greg and Malcolm are going to the church to be with family and give thanks.

♪♪ If the umu is finished in 45 minutes, the food will be hot when everybody returns home from church.

For all that food for all those people to be cooked in 45 minutes, goes to show how effective the rocks at retaining heat are.

♪♪ -Greg Louganis, this is the day you longed for a long time, to come home to the land of the birth of his father.

-I was stuck with all the boys.

And you went with your family to church.

And you went to visit your ancestors.

♪♪ -This is High Chief Simaile Lutu.

Really, he's Lutu.

He's your father's brother.

So this is Elisa, this is Carl's grandfather.

That's your dad's oldest brother.

So, this is uncle, grandfather, this is your great-grandfather.

Molioo.

All of them hold the Lutu title.

That's Lutu Molioo.

That's great-grandpa.

-January 29th.

-January 29th is my birthday.

-January 29th, 1960, Greg was born.

♪♪ -You know, it's so funny.

It seems like, you know, everybody, you may be related, but, you know, it may be half, you know?

Everybody's a half sibling or by marriage or something like that.

Just because you're half doesn't mean that you're any less.

You know, that it's still on par.

You're still family.

-It seemed like they didn't even have a word for half-brother or half-sister... -Right.

-...in Samoan.

It was -- It's either brother or sister.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -Church is going to be over in another 15, so now it's time to unload the umu, and everybody just got to work.

♪♪ They peeled back all the layers of leaves.

After the top layer, which was primarily banana leaf, I saw what I did not expect.

They used these large taro leaves on this second layer, and they had virtually fused into one smooth membrane.

And the smell -- oh, my gosh, the aroma.

That mango leaf and the mango branches really imparted a unique smell.

♪♪ No, seriously, it's a flavor that I've never had before with the mango leaf.

-Try the lamb.

Remember, the lamb was cooked directly on the rocks.

-Mm-hmm.

-And we put it in between mango leaves on the bottom -- It's the rock, mango leaf, lamb, mango leaf, rock.

So we cooked it on both sides.

-It's definitely the mango leaf and the mango sticks that give this flavor because it's a different flavor.

-Different flavor.

-Yeah.

So good.

-And juicy.

-Yeah.

♪♪ -This is the home of Su'a and Salote Schuster who are my parents.

We're so honored and blessed to have all of you here to share family to'oan'i with us, with the presence of Greg and Malcolm, who are here to share this moment with us.

We live on such an isolated island, so far from everything, but we make do.

Family is what makes everything move, makes everything go.

We're so blessed and honored to have our family members visiting us here today.

-Is any of this familiar to you?

From the process to the flavors?

-No.

-It's all brand-new?

-It's all brand-new.

It really is.

-The oka.

-Mmm.

-Thank you.

-This is the oka that we were talking about.

It's the super fresh raw fish marinated in lime, lemon, and coconut.

-Um... -You've had poke before, right?

Yeah.

So it was, like, their version of poke.

-Oh, wow.

-Pretty sure it's the coconut milk, but they offset it with the lemon.

-That's wonderful.

-So, this is fai'i pilikaki.

-Okay.

-This is the one that we mixed the mackerel -- right.

So look at how it just turns into this custard.

-It does.

It does.

Wow.

-Natural sweetness.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's not fishy.

-No.

Not at all.

-Not at all.

-And then, Carl was telling me that one of his favorite things to do is just take ulu -- or, I mean taro or ulu and just dip it in it.

-Yeah.

That's nice.

-[ Laughing ] Oh, my God.

-That's really, really good.

-And then, we got to do the palusami.

This is the one that we labored over.

-Oh, wow.

So, you eat the whole thing.

-You eat the -- yes.

Exactly.

-Okay.

-Taro leaf.

-Right.

Okay.

Wow.

♪♪ That's really good.

-Yeah.

Much of -- much of the same flavors but just subtle variations of it, right?

-Yeah.

And texture.

-How's that crab?

-Crab's really, really good.

-I've never -- I've never had coconut crab.

-This coconut crab is sweet.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

-Yeah.

-The whole time we've been cooking, everyone's been saying to me, "Okay, we're going to have a big feast and then we're gonna take a nap."

And now I understand why.

-Right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Palusami, that's the dish.

I should have known.

You know, it's always been my favorite Samoan dish that I've ever had.

Palusami is a little bundle of the Pacific -- taro leaves wrapped around creamy coconut, diced onions, salt and pepper.

But the real magic happens as it's slowly baked in the umu until everything melts together.

It's no wonder why this beloved, comforting dish is one of Greg Louganis's favorite food memories.

♪♪ -So, I feel like who we are is a combination of all of the experiences that we have, and this has been an incredible experience.

All of those things shape us, but it doesn't define us.

We were talking about nature versus nurture.

-Mm-hmm.

-And it's like there are certain things that, looking at my dad and seeing the way that he stands or gestures, or oftentimes it's a recognition of that, "Oh, this feels familiar."

It really has been incredible to embrace my natural heritage as well as honor where I came from.

♪♪ -The way I look at it is, you've got two homes now.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

♪♪ -After everything we've experienced, one thing is clear.

American Samoa has always embraced him as family.

Everywhere we go, there's another cousin, another link, another person ready to welcome him home.

Growing up in a Greek-American household, Greg was disconnected from his Samoan heritage.

On this journey, he came to realize they've been with him all along.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪