Hawaii Island CD Drive Guide
History as a general discipline is subject to interpretation and in some cases filling in the blanks with speculation. The history of food in Hawaii is not well documented (no cook books available) and yet we have been able to piece together from various sources at least a glimpse into the diet of the pre contact Hawaiians and how food changed as people from around the world entered this paradise with their own cultural traditions in tow.
The story starts about 1200 to 1500 years ago as a group of sea faring Polynesians for reasons unknown left their island homes and headed across 2000 miles of Pacific Ocean in search of a new home. If you think of them as space travellers using double hulled canoes rather than space ships you can get an idea of what was involved to make the voyage. They left their home with seeds for flowers, fruits and vegetables. They brought animals for food and breeding, and a set of religious beliefs and customs that would set the foundation for what would become a new culture...Hawaiian.
Upon arriving in Hawaii, on the Big Island, colonization began. The island and islands were explored, suitable farm land was found and over the course of the next several hundred years the people learned about their new home, adapted to it's rhythms and varied environments. The unique nature on the island gave rise to a unique culture. Most researchers of history agree that the ocean was without a doubt the most stable and constant source of food. Pre contact Hawaiians are known to have eaten a variety of fish, raw, dried and cooked. They also consumed shellfish, octopi, lobsters, crab, seaweed, eel, and of course they cultivated salt. In fact aquaculture, raising fish in man made ponds, became an important way of life for many early Hawaiians, and gave great cheifs like Kamehameha a stable and reliable food supply to feed his armies in times of war and keep his chiefs happy in times of peace. The head fisherman, the Poe Lawaia, of a village was a position of respect and importance and the techniques of net fishing, channel fishing in fish traps, poison fishing, and spear fishing were handed down from generation to generation with deliberate care and reverence.
As we head up on the shore we find coconuts, kukui nuts, bananas, breadfruit, noni, taro, yams and sweet potatoes, that all added to the early diet. It is documented that the early Hawaiians brought with them from Polynesia taro, sweet potato, yams, banana, coconut, sugarcane, ava, ti, paper mulberry, gourd, hau, kamani, kukui, milo, noni, and bamboo. Especially important was Taro. Many legends explain the importance of taro, it's leaves and it's body were consumed, it was raised and cultivated wherever a suitable location could be found and served as the staple dietary starch for the Hawaiians. It was served as poi (mashed and mixed with water) as well as boiled. Just keep in mind that the history of food in Hawaii right from the beginning is the history of food that was "brought" to Hawaii and adopted by the local residents, as well as food that was found in Hawaii. This trend continues today.
The pre contact Hawaiians also ate meat, the animals being brought from Polynesia and allowed to roam free and populate the island in some cases and kept in others. Pigs, dogs, chickens and a few other variety of small birds were eaten, most likely not on a regular basis. So all in all pre contact diet was fish and poi, supplemented by fruits, yams, sweet potatoes, seaweed, and the occasional meat. It was low in fat, seasonal, and in limited supply and variety.
Captain James Cook, the British explorer, happened upon the Hawaiian islands in January of 1778. (an interesting story that I won't tell here but had a huge impact on the history of Hawaiian food) In the hundred years that followed Cook's arrival the Hawaiian islands, the people and the diet would forever change. The hundred years that followed would see the introduction of a variety of diseases that decimated the native population. It would see the breaking of the Kapu, and the introduction of western religion. While King Kamehameha united the islands into one kingdom the seeds of change saw the regular visits of fur traders, sandalwood traders, whaling ships, missionaries, and the rise of sugarcane plantations, shipping, pineapple, ranching, and guns. This period in history established Honolulu as the center of the Pacific Ocean.
Between 1796 and 1904, just over a hundred years, the Hawaiian islands became home to Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Philipinos, Portugese, Spanish, English, Pacific Islanders, Puerto Ricans, and Koreans. All of these people brought with them their own histories, traditions and of course their foods. A host of non native animals and plants were also introduced during this time as well, changing the landscape forever and introducing some of today's most well known ingredients. (Coffee, Mac Nuts, Pineapple etc) During this time, and with no specific date, various dishes from various cooking traditions began to take hold in Hawaii, to become regular dietary mainstays of the new ethnicly mixed population. Starting in the late 1800s, Japanese farmers worked side by side with their Chinese, Phillipino and Korean counter parts. Portugese Missionaries, spanish and Mexican Cowboys, and a hodge podge of American And European traders also added to the mix. Alot of the dishes that you see on local menus these days came to Hawaii during this period. To list just a few, Japanese white rice, teriyaki, bulgogi, adobo, tonkatsu, saimin, various noodles, chicken long rice, mandoo, gravy, fish jun, and kimuchee. This is where history gets cloudy as we cannot see the actual interaction but imagine during lunches, holidays, and special gatherings the various cultures began to taste their neighbors dishes, sharing community kitchens on the plantations, and the "favorites" were adopted into the local diet. The stark lack of vegetables in the local diet (meat and rice are main) also comes from this time period of simple plantation foods.
In the late 1800's writers such as Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson had made Hawaii and the Pacific Islands famous, giving them a romantic and adventurous image that still exists today. Yet for the most part early tourism was for the wealthy only, riding on great steam ships with luggage requiring three people to carry it. That also would change. With Hawaii being a center for WWII news and activity, with the rise in commercial air travel, and with the prosperity of the U.S. economy after the war more and more people wanted to see Hawaii. From 1959 to 1990 Hawaii saw a rise in yearly tourism from about 200,000 in 1959 to over 7 million visitors a year currently. Currently tourism is worth over 10 billion dollars to the Hawaiian economy. So as hotels began to pop up, new restaurants and new styles of cooking did too. During the last 40 years we have seen the birth of Pacific Rim Cooking, more recently known as Hawaii Regional Cuisine, the marriage of Hawaii's western and Eastern influences using local gourmet ingredients and served with Aloha. As the American tourist has become more adventurous in their ability to try new things so too has a variety of creative chefs. In 1995 the Hawaii Regional Cuisine Inc. (dissolved in 1998)was formed. The State Business Registration Records indicate that, Peter Merriman, Sam Choy, Mark Ellman, Roy Yamaguchi, Amy Ota, Beverly Ann Gannon, Shep Gordon, Jean-Marie Josselin, George Mavrothalassitis, Phillipe Padovanni, Gary Strehl, and Alan Wong were the founding members, although at most events with these chefs Roger Dikon is included as a chef and Shep Gordon not.
Regardless, most of these chefs have gone on to great success as restauranteers, cookbook writers, and continue to raise the bar for Hawaii Regional Cuisine. As most of these chefs are still in their prime a lot more delicious history will surely be written.
A Brief History of Hawaiian Food