It had to happen. Today the NY Time’s Jennifer Steinhauer wrote a good article on the plate lunch in Hawaii. Of course it frets about grease and underplays the sheer wonder of the cultures that have produced this food. But this is not the time to defend the plate lunch.
It’s there in the NY Times because this is where Obama grew up. Here’s my friend Lori Wong on how Hawaii saw Obama’s victory. “Our re-elected mayor summed up Obama’s election in a foodie fashion by saying we will now have a prez in the White House who understands shaved ice, plate lunch, spam musubi, and poi.” One day we’ll have an account of Obama’s life that gives due attention to the difference that growing up in Hawaii made. It won’t come for a while because now is the moment when the nation is celebrating someone who embraced an American black heritage.
Meantime, I have to say, specially after my recent visit, that I am thrilled to have been in the vanguard of those who celebrated, instead of denigrated, Hawaii’s cuisine.
And just to give you a sense of the exuberance of Hawaii’s cuisine, I asked Lori if I could reproduce a recent letter. It’s all hers except for the commentary in square brackets. She calls it Pigcentricities. Of course, this is just one particular subset as she says (no Japanese, Korean, Portuguese dishes at this particular feast).
I had a wonderful, old fashioned garage party [houses in Hawaii are small and super-expensive. Hence the garage parties--usually a carport--are a local fixture] experience last night which even included the sanitoi toilet without lights!
The party was filled with pig dishes and I just had to share it with fellow pig lovers. Never so much pig on one menu have I seen even in pig-loving Hawaii. We had Hawaiian kalua pig, Chinese roast pig, and many Filipino pig dishes.
The roast pigs head taunted me to go for one of its crispy ears. I was in the Hawaiian Nation of Waianae [the Waianaie coast of the main island is a very traditional area almost never visited by tourists] celebrating the Wedding of Lifetime of Jayne and Kahele, a union of Hawaiian, Tahitian, and Filipino cultures.
It took up two garages and the fronting street with tents lit with colorful lights and festive balloons. It reminded my friend Ritabelle of parties in India.
The prayers of thanksgiving and blessings were in Hawaiian and English. The groom asking everyone to stand and raise their hand to share in the “mana” of the bride and groom—a universal energy from all the gods present to all of the guests.
The obligatory goat skin found at Hawaiian-Filipino celebrations, ahi poke [raw cubes of tuna] along with sushi and fruit sat on the pupu table as the 350-700 guests awaited “the kitchen” to open. The groom’s father’s band rocked out “Mustang Sally” as the crowd answered back, “Ride, Sally, Ride”. The kitchen in the garage “opened” and the double line grew as guests piled their paper plates high.
As the line never seemed to shorten, I finally decided to join the line on the street under the stars of Waianae. Before the roast pig’s head greeted me, steamed white rice came first followed by gon lo mein [Chinese noodle casserole]. I resisted the pig’s heads taunting and moved on to the Hawaiian food–kalua pig [traditionally baked in an underground oven or imu, here probably in an oven using liquid smoke. CORRECTION FROM GRACE--THIS WAS COOKED IN THE TRADITIONAL IMU].
Dark green squid luau followed. The squid caught by the groom who free dives and fishes off of the Waianae coast is one of my most favorite dishes with creamy luau and a touch of coconut milk [luau are taro leaves]. Squid luau and rice. I can live on this food of the gods. Chicken long rice [Chinese rice noodles with chicken, I know, Chinese but now counted as Hawaiian given lots of intermarriage] completed the Hawaiian fare.
More pork dishes followed. Pork guisantes, the Filipino version of pork and peas; pork adobo with potatoes; lechon—Filipino roast pork; and Chinese roast pork with crispy skin. In between was the pan of “chocolate meat” cooked in blood [Filipino dinuguan with pork or pork innards and pork blood].
Long beans and a fiddle fern salad with fresh tomatoes added some green to all of the pig-centric delicacies. Deep fried lumpia and fried salt and pepper shrimps (the latter already off of the table by the time I hit the line) finished off the feast.
Lots of sticky rice desserts, orange, white, purple [yum and yum again], and my favorite halo halo [over the top shave ice with mixed fruits and condensed milk, unbelievably yummy] were the Filipino offerings. After the bride and groom cut the cake, the crowd enjoyed Waianae Bakery’s rainbow cake—all the colors of the rainbow. Two full sheet cakes and cuts double the size of a can of spam, and there was still cake left on the table.
The beat went on. The rumba stick (a roll of brown cloth) and gyrating young kids dancing under the stick. A hula dancer. Kahele singing. Kids running around.
The community feasting together…I am thankful for the experience to be a part of this communion of what Hawaii is all about and wanted to share it with you my fellow pig-honoring friends.
Thanks Lori.
And here’s an addendum from Grace.
There were four baboy or pua’a (carne de cerdo) that were gifted and slaughtered for this occasion. One pig WAS buried in an imu (underground oven), another huli-huli lechon (whole & roasted on a spic) with garlic, vinegar and spices, the other two were made into everything else… Everything is from local farms and were made in some “auntie’s kitchen” or “backyard”… except the cake. (There were 8 homes 12 families within a 2 block radius to “cook”) -
Thanks Grace
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