Cuisine of Hawaii

The cuisine of Hawaii incorporates five distinct styles of food, reflecting the diverse food history of settlement and immigration in the Hawaiian Islands, primarily originating from Polynesian, North American and East Asian cuisines.

In the pre-contact period of Ancient Hawaii (300 AD–1778), Polynesian voyagers brought plants and animals to the Islands. As Native Hawaiians settled the area, they fished, raised taro for poi, planted coconuts, sugarcane, sweet potatoes and yams, and cooked meat and fish in earth ovens.

After first contact in 1778, European and American cuisine arrived along with missionaries and whalers, who introduced their foods and built large sugarcane plantations. Christian missionaries brought New England cuisine while whalers introduced salted fish which eventually transformed into lomilomi salmon.

As pineapple and sugarcane plantations grew, so did the demand for labor, bringing many immigrant groups to the Islands between 1850 and 1930. Immigrant workers brought cuisines from China, Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Portugal after arriving in Hawaii, introducing their new foods and influencing the region.

The introduction of new ethnic foods, such as Chinese Cantonese char siu bao (manapua), Portuguese sweet bread and malasadas, Puerto Rican pasteles, and the Japanese bento, combined with the existing indigenous, European and American foods in the plantation working environments and the local communities.

This blend of cuisines formed a "local food" style unique to Hawaii, resulting in plantation foods like the plate lunch, snacks like Spam musubi, and dishes like the loco moco. Shortly after World War II several well-known local restaurants opened their doors to serve "Hawaiian Food". Chefs further refined the local style and labeled it "Hawaii regional cuisine" in 1991, a style of cooking that makes use of locally grown ingredients to blend all of Hawaii's historical influences together to form a new fusion cuisine.

History

Pre-contact period

thumb|Taro, [[Colocasia esculenta, was brought to Hawaii by the Polynesians]]

When Polynesian seafarers arrived on the Hawaiian Islands in 1000–1200 AD, few edible plants existed in the new land, aside from ferns (hāpuʻu ʻiʻi, whose uncoiled fronds are eaten boiled) and fruits that grew at higher elevations. Botanists and archaeologists believe that the Polynesian voyagers introduced anywhere between 27 and more than 30 plants to the islands, known as canoe plants, mainly for food. The most important of them was taro.

For centuries taro, and the poi made from it, was the main staple of their diet, and it is still much loved today. In addition to taro the Polynesians brought sweet potatoes. These are believed to have come from Polynesian contact with the New World.

The Marquesans, the first settlers from Polynesia, brought breadfruit and the Tahitians later introduced the baking banana. These settlers from Polynesia also brought coconuts, candlenuts (known in Hawaiian as kukui nuts), and sugarcane. Later generations of these settlers however did not utilise coconuts as much as other related Polynesian groups down south. They found plenty of fish, shellfish, and limu in the new land. Pigs were raised for religious sacrifice, and the meat was offered at altars, some of which was consumed by priests and the rest eaten in a mass celebration. Some species of land and sea birds were consumed into extinction.

thumb|left|[[Kukui foliage, flowers, and nut (candlenut) was brought to Hawaii by Polynesians.]]

Sea salt was a common condiment in ancient Hawaii,

The modern name for such feasts, lū‘au, was not used until 1856, replacing the Hawaiian words ‘aha‘aina and pā‘ina. The name lū‘au came from the name of a food always served at a ‘aha‘aina, young taro tops baked with coconut milk and chicken or octopus.

Prior to cooking, pigs and dogs were killed by strangulation or by holding their nostrils shut, in order to conserve the animal's blood. Meat was prepared by flattening out the whole eviscerated animal and broiling it over hot coals, or it was spitted on sticks. A fire is built with embers, and when the rocks are glowing hot, the embers are removed and the foods wrapped in ti, ginger or banana leaves are put into the pit, covered with wet leaves, mats and a layer of earth. Water may be added through a bamboo tube to create steam.

The intense heat from the hot rocks cooked food thoroughly—the quantity of food for several days could be cooked at once, taken out and eaten as needed, and the cover replaced to keep the remainder warm. Sweet potatoes, taro, breadfruit and other vegetables were cooked in the imu, as well as fish. Saltwater eel was salted and dried before being put into the imu. Chickens, pigs and dogs were put into the imu with hot rocks inserted in the abdominal cavities.

Post-contact period

thumb|Hawaiian man pounding [[taro to make poi. Taro plants can be seen growing behind him]]

In 1778, Captain James Cook arrived at the island of Niihau, leaving a ram goat, ewes, a boar, an English sow, and seeds for melons, pumpkins, and onions. In 1793, Captain George Vancouver brought the first cattle to the islands; longhorns from California were presented to King Kamehameha I.

With no natural predators, the new cattle multiplied out of control; the king hired an American man named John Parker to capture and domesticate cattle. a Spanish botanist and advisor to King Kamehameha I.

Although grape vines were introduced by Captain Vancouver around 1792, Marin is credited with the first Hawaiian vineyard in 1815 and planting the now rare Mission grape variety. Marin also brewed the first beer in 1812, Marin, called "Manini" by the Hawaiians, experimented with planting oranges, limes, beans, cabbages, potatoes, peaches, melons, maize and lettuce.

By the late 19th century, pineapple and sugarcane plantations owned and run by American settlers took over much of Hawaii's land, and these two crops became the most important sources of revenue for the Hawaiian economy.

Ethnic foods

As the plantations of the Big Five expanded, the demand for labor grew, so the plantation owners hired immigrant workers, which included Chinese, Koreans, Japanese, Filipinos, and Portuguese. Each ethnic group wanted its food in workplaces, and farms and grocery markets were established.

The Chinese immigrants brought Cantonese cuisine, cooking the first stir fry, sweet and sour, and dim sum dishes in the islands, adding their herbs and spices and served with rice. which themselves were the Hawaiians' adaptation of paddy agriculture by their Austronesian ancestors outlasting ancestral knowledge of the rice grain gradually lost during the expansion into the Pacific. Chinese rice growers imported familiar fish varieties from Asia to stock local streams and irrigation ditches.

Korean immigration to Hawaii brought kimchi and built barbecue pits to cook marinated meats. Korean-style bulgogi or boneless meat with moderately sweet garlic sauce and galbi or meat with bones and moderately sweet garlic sauce as well, and another Korean favorite bibimbab or mixed rice with seasoned vegetables, namul, sweet and spicy gochujang and bulgogi topping also became an integral part of Hawaiian cuisine.

thumb|145px|[[Hawaiian shave ice, believed to have been introduced to Hawaii from Japan by Japanese immigrants who ate kakigōri]]

The Portuguese immigrants came to Hawaii from the Azores in the late 19th century, introducing their foods with an emphasis on pork, tomatoes and chili peppers, and built forno, their traditional beehive oven, to make pão doce, the Portuguese sweet bread and malasada.

Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii began in 1900, contributing spicy, Spanish-seasoned thick soups, casseroles, pasteles, and meat turnovers. bringing lemongrass, fish sauce and galangal, popular in Thai and Vietnamese cuisine.

In 1872, the Royal Hawaiian Hotel opened on Hotel Street, and as one of the most refined hotels in the Pacific, catering to wealthy clients. The Royal Hawaiian dining room served dishes on par with the best restaurants in Europe, with an 1874 menu offering dishes such as mullet, spring lamb, chicken with tomatoes, and cabinet pudding.

The massive pineapple industry of Hawaii was born when the "Pineapple King", James Dole, planted pineapples on the island of Oahu in 1901.

Since the 1970s, pineapples have been grown more cheaply in Southeast Asia, so Hawaiian agriculture has taken a diverse approach, producing a variety of crops, including squash, tomatoes, chili peppers and lettuce.

While eating out was not as prevalent as it is now, local eateries began to establish themselves starting in the 1960s. Diners and drive ins served local ethnic foods in addition to the American fare such as Rainbow Drive-in, L&L, Liliha Bakery and Zippy's. Smaller mom-n-pop shops such as saimin houses, convenience stores were common in neighborhood serving pre-set bentos or a la carte items at an okazuya (Japanese "deli"). Some were even mobile, affectionately known as manapua vans selling small dim sum-like treats long before food truck culture became the trend in the 21st century.

Japanese-American baker Robert Taira, came up with a recipe for the Hawaiian version of sweet Portuguese bread in the 1950s. Taira began to commercially produce the bread in Hawaii, and it became successful in Honolulu bakeries and coffee shops, with plant production expanding to California and South Carolina. By the 1980s, Taira's company, King's Hawaiian Bakery, was grossing US$20 million annually.

The cuisine style was developed in 1991 Rather, the group hoped to promote locally sourced ingredients in the hospitality industry while simultaneously informing the world about cuisine in Hawaii.

The goal of the group was to link local ranchers, fishermen and farmers with chefs and business in the hospitality and restaurant industry to develop Hawaii regional cuisine as a reflection of the community.

They took uninspired international and continental hotel cuisine based on imported products and recipes from the mainland and replaced them with dishes and a cuisine based on locally grown foods.

Contemporary times

The continued popularity of Hawaii in the 21st century as a tourist destination has helped spawn Hawaiian-themed and Hawaiian cuisine restaurants in the contiguous United States such as Ono Hawaiian BBQ and L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. Its popularity is also reaching Europe, with the restaurant POND Dalston opening in 2014 as first New Hawaiian Cuisine in the United Kingdom. There are also many Hawaiian-made specialties such as Lilikoi açaí bowls from places like Ono Yo on the North Shore of Oahu.

There are also branded items such as Mauna Loa macadamia nuts. Sugarcane producer Alexander & Baldwin continues to operate and has diversified into other businesses.

Dole Food Company is based in Hawaii and still has a pineapple operation on Oahu. Maui Land & Pineapple Company ceased production in 2009. Some of its assets and employees are involved in the Haliʻimaile Pineapple Company startup and Kapalua Farms organic pineapple operation was taken over by Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development with backing from Pierre Omidyar. Beer producer Kona Brewing Company and the Volcano Winery are active.

Local eateries include the Zippy's chain. Foodland Hawaii is a grocery chain. There are also distinctive and historic business operations such as Kanemitsu Bakery, Helena's Hawaiian Food, Common Ground Kauai, Anna Miller's, Nisshodo Candy Store, Maui Tacos and Waiʻoli Tea Room & Bakery at Salvation Army Waiʻoli Tea Room.

Roy Yamaguchi's Roy's and various cookbooks promoting Hawaiian regional cuisine have also helped popularize Hawaiian cuisine and Hawaiian fusion cuisine.

Ingredients

Vegetables, fruits and nuts

thumb|right|Hala, the fruit of the [[Pandanus tectorius tree]]

Taro (Colocasia esculenta)—a popular and ancient plant that has been harvested for at least 30,000 years by indigenous people in New Guinea. There are hundreds of varieties of taro, and the corm of the wetland variety makes the best poi, Spam became an important source of protein for locals after fishing around the islands was prohibited during World War II.

Spam is used in local dishes in a variety of ways, most commonly fried and served with rice. For breakfast, fried eggs are often served with spam. The paniolos chewed pipikaula ("beef rope"), a salted and dried beef that resembles beef jerky. With the influence of Asian cooking, beef strips are commonly marinated in soy sauce.

Fish and seafood

thumb|[[Poke (Hawaii)|Poke bowl, Maui, Hawaii]]

thumb|175px|Tako (octopus) [[Poke (Hawaii)|poke with tomatoes, green onion, maui onion, soy sauce, sesame oil, sea salt, chili pepper]]

Tuna is the most important fish in Hawaiian cuisine. Varieties include the skipjack tuna (aku), the yellowfin tuna (ahi), and the albacore tuna (tombo).

Ahi in particular has a long history, since ancient Hawaiians used it on long ocean voyages because it is well preserved when salted and dried. A large portion of the local tuna fishery goes to Japan to be sold for sashimi.

Poke is different from sashimi, since the former is usually rough-cut and piled onto a plate, and can be made with less expensive pieces of fish.

<!--Poke is a relatively recent food tradition rather than a practice based in traditions of ancient Hawaii. Hawaiian Dictionary defines it as "to slice, cut crosswise into pieces, as fish or wood; to press out as the meat of an opihi shell", and does not have references to poke as a fish dish. In account of Hawaiian uses of fish and the first ethnic cookbooks, there is no mention of poke as a fish dish. The Hawaiian liking for raw fish appears to be a recent phenomenon, since such custom is absent from many anthropological accounts of the Hawaii islands.

Spices

Showing the island's Asian influence, common Asian spices include five-spice powder from China, wasabi and shoyu (soy sauce) from Japan, and bagoong from the Philippines.

Dishes

200px|thumb|A [[loco moco plate lunch, with fried saimin and macaroni salad]]

Chicken long rice—chicken stewed with ginger, green onions, and rice vermicelli/mung bean thread
Kālua pig—pulled pork, popularly cooked with cabbage
Crack seed—Chinese-style preserved fruits
Lau lau—traditional preparation include pieces of salted black cod and pork wrapped in taro leaves and a ti leaf, but variations may include other proteins such as fish, chicken, and/or beef
Loco moco—hamburger steak over rice, topped with brown gravy and eggs
Lomi salmon—cubed salt-cured salmon combined with tomatoes and onion
Luau–taro leaves stewed in coconut milk/cream.
Malasada—chewy deep fried donut coated with sugar
Manapua—A cha siu bao 2-3x larger, but other popular fillings include lup cheong, Okinawan sweet potatoes, chicken curry
Mochi—various glutinous rice desserts/candy
Musubi-rice balls often topped with cured meats such as SPAM, hot dogs, or Göteborg sausage
Opihi—edible limpets, Cellana sandwicensis and Cellana exarata
Pasteles
Plate lunch ()
Poi—pureed taro corm
Portuguese sweet bread
Saimin—noodle soup of soft wheat egg noodles served in a hot dashi garnished with green onions, kamaboko, and char siu.

File:Ahi limu poke.jpg|Ahi tuna limu (seaweed) ahi poke

File:SPAM musubi.jpg|Spam musubi

Image:Wontonsaimin.jpg|Wonton saimin

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Drinks

Kava (Piper methysticum) (awa) is a traditional soporific beverage of Oceania thought to have originated in Vanuatu. In modern times, kava bars have experienced some popularity in Hawaii, with commercial kava plantations on Maui, Molokai, Kauai, and Oahu.

Alcoholic beverages

Hawaiian tropical tiki cocktails like the Blue Hawaii make use of rum. The rum is blended with a variety of tropical fruit juices and served with a decorative piece of fruit.
Okolehao is an old Hawaiian liquor distilled from the fermented root of the ti plant. is the largest Hawaiian packaged beer brewer. (see also List of breweries in Hawaii).

Notes

a. Food historian Rachel Laudan (1996) on four distinct types of food plus a new, fifth type known as "Hawaiian Regional Cuisine" (HRC) that began in 1991. Because HRC was so new at the time of Laudan's book, she only briefly touches upon it: "I came to understand that what people in Hawaii eat is a mixture of four distinct kinds of food, introduced at distinct periods, but now all coexisting. The first three reflect the three diasporas that have terminated in Hawaii: the great marine diaspora of the Pacific Islanders that probably reached the Hawaiian Islands sometime in the third century A.D..; the European voyages of discovery that finally came upon the Islands in the late eighteenth century; and the long migration of the Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Koreans, Filipinos, and lately, Southeast Asians, most of whom came to work on the plantations. From these diverse traditions, a fourth, an East-West-Pacific food, is now being created, known in the Islands as Local Food. [...] But there is another cuisine in the Islands that attracts attention, Hawaii Regional Cuisine...[it] was created by forces quite different from those that drive Local Food...although the forces creating Hawaii Regional Cuisine and Local Food were different, their current cross-fertilization can be nothing but mutually beneficial, creating a firm regional base for the cuisine of the restaurants and increasing sophistication for the cuisine of the home and the street."

b. The early settlement history of Hawaiʻi is not completely resolved. One theory is that the first Polynesians arrived in Hawaiʻi in the third century from the Marquesas and were followed by Tahitian settlers in 1300 AD who conquered the original inhabitants. Another is that there was an extended period of contact but not necessarily for a Tahitian invasion.

c. Men and women ate their meals separately to preserve the distinction between male and female mana, which was thought to be blurred by both sexes handling the same food. In addition, some foods were forbidden to women, such as pork, certain kinds of fish and most types of bananas.