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Modern cuisine of Hawaii is a fusion of many cuisines brought by multiethnic immigrants to the Hawaiian Islands, particularly of American, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Polynesian and Portuguese origins, including plant and animal food sources imported from around the world for agricultural use in Hawaii. Many local restaurants serve the ubiquitous plate lunch featuring the Asian staple, two scoops of steamed white rice, a version of American mayonnaise-based macaroni salad or Japanese mayonnaise-based potato salad (or a combination of both) Korean kimchee or other Korean vegetable or Japanese pickled seaweed, and one to three choices of main entrees ranging from the hamburger steak and gravy, Chinese charsiu chicken, Chinese cold ginger chicken, Japanese style tonkatsu or torikatsu, Filipino pork, chicken or fish adobo, Filipino lumpia, Korean chapchae, Filipino pansit, Korean beef short ribs, Korean and Japanese-style BBQ beef and chicken, grilled Ahi, Korean meat jun, or traditional Hawaiian lu'au favorites, kalua pig, lomi salmon, laulau, and poi. When Polynesian seafarers arrived on the Hawaiian Islands in 300–500 AD,[a] few edible plants existed in the new land, aside from a few ferns and fruits that grew at higher elevations. Botanists and archaeologists believe that these voyagers introduced anywhere between 27 and possibly more than 30 plants to the islands, mainly for food.[1] The most important of them was taro.[2] For centuries taro, and the poi made from taro, was the main staple of their diet, and it is still much loved today. In addition to taro, sweet potatoes and yams were planted. The Marquesans, the first settlers from Polynesia, brought breadfruit and the Tahitians later introduced the baking banana. These settlers from Polynesia also brought coconuts and sugarcane.[3] They found plenty of fish, shellfish, and limu in the new land.[1] Flightless birds were easy to catch and nests were full of eggs for the taking.[1] Most Pacific Islands had no meat animals except bats and lizards, so ancient Polynesians sailed the Pacific with pigs, chickens and dogs as cargo.[4] 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.[4] The early Hawaiian diet was diverse, and may have included as many as 130 different types of seafood and 230 types of sweet potatoes.[5] Some species of land and sea birds were consumed into extinction.[6] Prior to cooking, pigs and dogs were killed by strangulation or by holding their nostrils shut, in order to conserve the animal's blood.[10] Meat was prepared by flattening out the whole eviscerated animal and broiling it over hot coals, or it was spitted on sticks.[10] Large pieces of meat, such as fowl, pigs and dogs, would be typically cooked in earth ovens, or spitted over a fire during ceremonial feasts.[4][10] Hawaiian earth ovens, known as an imu, combine roasting and steaming in a method called kalua. A pit is dug into earth and lined with volcanic rocks and other rocks that do not split when heated to a high temperature, such as granite.[11] 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.[7] 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.[12] Chickens, pigs and dogs were put into the imu with hot rocks inserted in the abdominal cavities.[7] Men did all of the cooking, and food for women was cooked in a separate imu; afterwards men and women ate meals separately.[b] The ancient practice of cooking with the imu continues to this day.[13] In 1778, Captain James Cook visited the island of Niihau, leaving a ram goat, ewes, a boar, an English sow, and seeds for melons, pumpkins, and onions.[14] In 1793, Captain George Vancouver brought the first cattle to the islands; longhorns from California were presented to King Kamehameha I.[15][16] 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.[16] Many of the cattle were butchered and beef was introduced to Hawaiian cuisine.
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