What are some typical foods and cooking methods of hawaiian island/pacific regions?

Question

I'm researching this for foods class. What are some foods and methods? also the customs, history, states that are part of this region, and a typical breakfast, lunch and dinner from this region. like entree, fruit/vegie, bread, beverage and dessert for the typical meals part. thanks a bunch!

Answer 1

Its a huge fire and banana skins....

Answer 2

They eat a LOT of pork in Hawaii. Hawaii eats more SPAM than any other state. They cook whole pig in a pit in the ground on coals.

Pineapple, poi, coconut, mango, papaya, rice.

Macadamia nuts. Coffee is an export.

Of course nowadays they eat all the same things as the States too.

Just search google or metacrawler.com for hawaii culture and traditions

Answer 3

When I think of South Pacific Island cuisine I think of Taro and pit cooking.

Taro is a large tuber that can be cooked and eaten as mush, or roasted.

Pit cooking is where a pit is dug, a fire is built in the pit and when the fire turns to ash and coals all the food is place wrapped in leaves in the pit and covered.  Usually the food roasted is pig and a variety of vegetables.   It is allowed to roast on the coals for a long time HOURS and HOURS. Then it is uncovered and eaten.

Answer 4

These are traditional/ancient cooking styles of old Hawai`i.  Many of these methods were used through out the Pacific.

"Kalua" means baking in an imu, an underground oven. Meats, fish and vegetables were kalua in an imu.

The imu was made by digging a hole big enough to hold a large quantity of food. Once the hole was dug, it was usually turned into a permanent imu, and used repeatedly.

"Ko’ala” is a method of broiling meat, fish, or fowl on hot coals. Raw or dried fish is delicious when cooked this way. Wrapping meat in ti leaves first is not necessary.

"Kunu” is similar to ko’ala. However greater care is taken in preparing the fish so that it is unchanged and undamaged while being evenly cooked. The fish was turned often with the hand or a stick. It was an art to serve fish that looked untouched, and Hawaiians took great pride in that.

"Pulehu” a familiar term to describe broiling meat and fish, is often used incorrectly. PuIehu (heaped ashes) is broiling vegetables, i.e. ‘uala, (sweet potatoes) ‘ulu, (breadfruit) or bananas in the hot embers. These vegetables were broiled with their skins to protect the flesh from burning.

"Palaha”, (flattened out) term used for broiling flattened meat, i.e. beef, pork, venison on hot coals.

"Olala”, is broiling food by holding it above the coals, and turning frequently until all sides were heated. Dried fish did not need actual cooking, merely a little heating.

"Lawalu”, is fish or meat Wrapped in ti leaves and broiled on coals.

All of these methods were used when cooking outdoors or whenever the quantity of food was  too small for an imu.

"Hakui”, is a method of steaming fish, meat vegetables with small pohaku 'eho, (red hot stones an inch wide).  The foods are sealed in an ‘umeke (calabash) with a tight fitting lid and water added to keep in the steam. Sometimes alternate layers of pohaku ‘eho and food were placed in the ‘umeke with a little water.

"Puholo”, is steaming with several pohaku ‘eho. They are placed in the body of a fowl, and then in an ‘umeke (calabash) with a tight fitting lid to keep in the steam. Hakui and puholo are similiar.

Traditional food items are pork, chicken, fish, shellfish, mollusks, taro, breadfruit, bananas, coconut, sea weed, small limes, sweet potato, mulberries, a small type of plum, sugar cane and mountain apples.  There are probably others, but it is hard to remember what was brought in to the islands, like mangoes, pineapples, and macadamia nuts, that are thought of as Hawaiian.

Answer 5

Pretty much anything you think of as a 'traditional' Hawaiian food....sugar cane, coconuts, bananas, pineapples, et cetera...were actually non-indigenous to the islands.  They were brought later.

Answer 6

Pineapple, You Know Coconut Exotic & Natural Things!