Many folks travel to Hawaii for its beautiful beaches, lush green landscapes and to glimpse awe-inspiring molten lava for the first time. And many visitors come back from Hawaii bowled over by something they didn't expect - Hawaii's cuisine. Food out here in Hawaii is truly different to the tastes and flavors of food in the mainland States, and it's easy to see how visitors fall in love with it.
The Background to Beautiful Hawaii Cuisine
Many immigrants of different races and nationalities have come to Hawaii, to find work and make a better life. Polynesian settlers arrived first on the islands, bringing with them pigs, potatoes and sugarcane. Then came Chinese immigrants to work the plantations... then came the Portuguese, bringing their taste for hot chili peppers and roast pork ... and then came Japanese workers, bringing their taste for sushi and fresh fish. Of course, you shouldn't forget the ongoing influence of the USA and Puerto Rico!
Everyone coming across to Hawaii brought with them new foods and new ways of cooking. And rather than staying separate, all these exciting dishes got drawn together into one incredible cooking style. Many folks call Hawaiian cookery 'fusion cuisine', or maybe 'Pacific Rim cuisine'.
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Unique Hawaiian Dishes
So, lots of influences have come together in Hawaii: and what this means today is an eclectic style of cooking. For example, truly American dishes, like hamburgers, are served with the twist of fried eggs, rice and gravy in the loco moco. In the same restaurant, you'll find sliced, paprika-seasoned Portuguese sausage (lingui_Œ_Üa) served for breakfast; whereas you might enjoy a chicken katsu curry for lunch.
A traditional luau is the best example of the diversity of food in Hawaii. Appetizers might include chicken long rice (a delicate broth of chicken, lemongrass and glass noodles) alongside poke - tuna sashimi dressed with soy sauce, sesame oil and fresh, hot, chilli. What's for mains? The most traditional of Hawaiian dishes - kalua pig - which is a suckling pig, slow cooked in an underground oven fired by aromatic banana leaves. For dessert, if you can possibly manage it, you might want to try the Filipino influenced halo-halo - shaved ice with evaporated milk, alongside fruits and sweets.
Fresh, Local Ingredients Make Hawaii Cuisine So Special
What makes Hawaiian cookery truly special is the quality of the ingredients. You couldn't imagine an island more green or verdant - perfect for growing creamy avocados, sweet pineapples and delicate lychees. And, of course, the fresh fish is amazing. Meaty tuna and juicy shrimp is found in abundance in the surrounding Pacific. In fact, Bite Me Fish Market Bar and Grill (Honokohau Harbor, Big Island of Hawaii prides itself on fish so fresh, you can go out and catch it yourself on an afternoon's organized excursion. They'll prepare and grill your succulent catch while you relax with a cocktail - leaving you free to tuck in as sun sets over the harbor.
There are a myriad of amazing restaurants in Hawaii that showcase the finest in Hawaiian cuisine.
Written by: Edd Morris
