Hawaiian Cuisine

Hawaii, the 50th state of the US, lies some 2,000 km west of the mainland in the Pacific Ocean. It's population is a mixture of different cultures and races, mainly decendants of Chinese, Korean and Philipine emmigrants. The native Hawaiians, the Polynesians are a minority. As are white people.

Because of the many cultures and races in Hawaii, the Hawaiian cuisine is a mixture of various cuisines. The Hawaiian Pacific Rim Cuisine is a Fusion Cuisine par exellence which finds its fans and followers not only on the Hawaiian islands but also around the world. On the other hand, you will also find the 'blessings' of US-American fast-food cultures like hamburgers, hot dogs and Coca Cola.

The main staple food for Hawaiian natives was taro. Taro (Colocasia esculenta) is a plant that belongs to the family Araceae that produces edible tubers or corms. The corms are usually peeled and prepared like potatoes. Young Tarot shoots leaves are used like any other leafy vegetables, older leaves are used for the traditional Lu'au. Traditional Hawaiian cuisine mainly consists of fish, seafood and Poi, mashed cooked Taro corms.

Another important part of traditional Hawaiian cuisine and eating culture is the Lu'au. A Lu'au is a traditional Hawaiian feast that normally features foods such as poi, kalua pig (pork prepared in an imu, or earth oven), poke, and lomi salmon, among others. Hawaii residents often hold lu'aus to celebrate special occasions, such as a child's first birthday.

More traditional Hawaiian dishes are:

• Poke (Raw fish mixed with seaweed, salt, chiles and kukui nuts)
• Huli-Huli Chicken (Barbecued chicken, served with a sauce with Hawaiian brown sugar, soy sauce and ginger)
• Kulolo (Taro Pudding)
• Banana bread (Bread with mashed bananas)