Food of Ohana Family Heritage The Ohana Island Family Heritage in a title simply means a family of islanders that are passed down the history of their ancestors. Passing down knowledge to the younger generation of Hawaii's modern history through stories of personal experiences during dinner time in hopes their children will continue to tell their own children the same stories. Luckily some families which have close ties still show appreciation to the island heritage which was told to them from their grandparents. The Younger generations tend to have little to no interest in the Hawaii of what was. I can not completely blame them, since the experiences are trapped in a time capsule of unobtainable memories and trapped in photos. Sometimes the stories tell us an idea, but we bond with the food, place, or idea isn’t the same as someone who lived through it. But not all tend to dismiss the past struggles of their grandparents, history of the island, natural attractions that have stories flowing through them. Even if the amount of eager ears are low in number there are still a handful that keep a mindful ear to take note of what has happened and respect it for what it is. The Stories which are passed can sometimes travel through the generations of those who lend an ear. A few from the younger generation, many middle aged adults, and Seniors remember what the island was like before the mass urbanization which built us the Honolulu of today. But the story is told differently depending on the upbringing of the person telling it. The elderly remember that racial divide was united by accepting all the immigrant groups worked together and was more one group than many. The middle aged groups tend to tell a story that talks about racial independence, but at the same time the start of the local movement which identified a united front of the plantation. The younger generation has two schools of thought, one emphasizes the racial divide and pride of birthright race with no thought about united races, the second shows the spirit of Aloha and told how the people in Hawaii are separated yet united but goes over bored with a loss of rooted racial identity. The Aloha Spirit The Spirit of Aloha has many parts to its definition... one of them is Hawaii's reputation of being a melting pot of culture. This comes from Hawaii’s approach to encourage people to have a sense of Aloha to all. The old fashioned idea of the Aloha spirit was an overall attitude of friendly acceptance for one another no matter the differences. With the idea of united races it often is a powerful way to resolve whatever problem, accomplish whatever goal, and to achieve whatever happiness. This is reflected in the food, and traditions of the local crowd. There is a constant struggle to understand people in Hawaii have their own Individual Birthright Race while having a United Local Culture without tipping too far with racial pride or forgetting to respect the roots of racial history altogether. Nick names of races in pigeon English further make the environment seem more racist, when really jokingly its not meant to have anything negative attached to it unless spoken in a rude tone to imply aggression. The messages of Hawaii come from its travel industry. When tourists see Hawaii they imagine bright aloha shirts, touristy luaus, smoked pork, and umbrellas in their cocktails. The tourists from Asia and tourists from mainland United States have a large interest in Polynesia, tikis, and all thats hip and cool which is exclusively Hawaii. What drives people to want to come to Hawaii was a question that helped open a bigger picture of what Hawaii has to offer, since of course everyone stay hungry for the local food. When first looking at the food scene on the islands you first notice Plate Lunch, Luaus, Manapua, and Poke Shops. Those who weren't from the islands showed the interest and respect for Hawaii's great treasures, but many locals took some convincing before finally stepping up to the plate of further developing what was around for many generations of Hawaii families. Handed down for Generations Many recipes which have been handed down for generations have not been properly documented in text books or with commercial food establishments, since many recipes are from family recipes which were passed on from generation to generation and are often times are culinary marvels, a tasty variation, or a spin on classics. In each of the articles there maybe a few notable flavors which have been made in long ago or even recently. This means the term of "Talking story" is the basis for a lot of the research. What does talking story mean? it means asking a friends friend moms grandma or a auntie uncles cousins friend about what might be popular in their own family recipe book. Varieties of recipes have been made years ago, but cant be traced to the original makers. When asked why the family still makes it the popular response is that the family cant get enough of it, or that its so ono they cant live without it. Ono is delicious in Hawaiian. Culinary Food Culture of Hawaii Food culture of Hawaii wasn't respected, appreciated, or further developed for a number of years until the chefs of Hawaii put their foot down and took Hawaiian style food more seriously. A food movement started to slowly take shape as Hawaii's chefs took what was put on the back burner and started developing the great foods from ancient era, plantation era, and modern era of Hawaiian style food. Not surprisingly many variations and techniques popped up of the perfect plate lunch, stew, or lau lau which was more likely to be found from a family cook book instead of a published one. The recipes, styles, and variations were found in the many long time families which continued to have family meals and have a real sense of Ohana. Exposure to Hawaii's food, music, and history can give you a good glimpse of what things were like back in day so to speak. Digging a little more into the food you will find yourself seeing a very family oriented gathering, eating style, and history of take out. Everyone brings with them their culture, family style meals, and the feeling of home. Local Food Commonly known as Local Food, Hawaiian style food, or Modern Hawaii Food, food favorites have no color or racial beginnings. All those who worked at the plantation gathered together to make the best kind of food with what they had and that became Hawaii's food favorites by taking whats best of each of the cultures, mixing it up, and turning it into something different which was local food. Everyone use to eat together during the plantation days, due to everyone being very poor, so surviving with coworkers was essential to eating a meal or starving. In essence many dishes which are popular today are poor mans food that became favorites over time. Whatever you could find, or whatever what was left over from the meal before became your next meal with a mix mash of multi cultural foods. The dishes which were tasty were made again, and the ones which weren't as tasty were not repeated. Many turn to pot lucks to have a source of reference to what a meal during the plantation days was like when you had some money to burn. The meal itself brings with it a good mood kinda feel, a understanding group, and a welcoming sense of aloha, regardless of whatever might be not the perfect situation of family that might be seen as dysfunctional from outside is taken in as a good family during the time of sharing food to create a greater sense of family. The Local Food of Kama’aina Eaters
Hawaii’s remarkable ethnic and racial diversity in its food from the plantation immigration has made Hawaii similar to an idea of a American Singapore of food. If you look around the island you can find all sorts of restaurants, from American, Hawaiian, Okinawan, Puerto Rican, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, and each of them have found their own little nitch of people who enjoy eating their foods either the authentic way of cooking from their home countries or the renown changes of those who took root in Hawaii many years ago to make the food become something different and Local. Globalization has brought other restaurants over like: Taiwanese, Vietnamese, French, Italian, Louisiana-regional cuisine, and the list keeps on growing over time. Its really a place you can taste many parts of the world with authenticity or with the local touch. And as many other places nationally there are foods that are brought over through franchises that make their way to the islands as well. Roaming Dishes A few roaming dishes found their way from house to house as it was passed around as a recipe card or from the popular word of mouth. People share their secrets with only a few friends and family and they each do things a little different and have their own style of local Hawaii cuisine that they know to be the familiar family foods that are served. These dishes are what would eventually be the start of what we now know as Hawaii food or local food to the kama’aina (hawaii residents). There are a mixture of foods that are just accepted as the locals foods due to its historical past. For example many Hawaiian foods were the basis of local foods and as immigration moved on with time the food followed suit to show the history through the good dishes. There are colonial dishes from the trading ports and the missionaries all the way to the modern day food found in homes and restaurants. It starts from ethnic diverse cultures from the different races that have made up Hawaii's food. As it gets more mixed the food becomes a really unique type of cuisine that makes Hawaii's Cuisine fascinating and different from other states in the United States. That experience of food makes it feel really local as a identity of the place and the food then belongs and is included with the land. As many other food cultures the local food is always evolving and ever changing landscape of foods in the Hawaii Cuisine scene. Experiencing Food from Multicultural Roots Foods segregation was made from the plantations that started with the separation of workers with housing for each different ethnic group with respect of some of the architecture, traditions, and foods as they worked the plantations. However, because all the different ethnicities worked with each other and bonded through interacting through broken english with pidgeon english there was a mix in foods as well. All the workers were said to have sat around during the break and ate foods and sometimes would share their food to have a more diverse lunch, sometimes to bond with other workers and feel like teammates on the fields, sometimes as a mark of offering to start a discussion. This segregation of foods was also apparent when there were different types of restaurants and plate lunch places like; Korean Plate Lunch, Okazuya Restaurant, Japanese Restaurant, Chinese Restaurant, and Local Plate Lunch. Once you start eating the Ethnic food in Hawaii the local food even works its ways in the forms of the ethnic restaurants. A local food that brings about many strange looks are Meat Juhn. Many people in Hawaii grow up with Meat Juhn and buy into the idea that it is Korean, but people who come from the mainland and people from Korea are completely confused what Meat Juhn is... because secretly its a local thing... its a Hawaii dish that changed from its korean roots. This has happened with many other foods as well like Miso Peanut Butter Chicken... and Baked Manapua. It goes past the original mimicry of copying other cultural foods and starts building off local ingredients, local tastes, and delicious outcomes of some great dishes. The previous cooks were making simple comfort foods that could stretch the test of time with the ideas of plantation. Todays cooks are trying to describe the local food that makes up the Hawaii cuisine to find the cooking identity of the geological area to push the idea of what is the food of the people of the islands. Hawaii and its own Cuisine The foods of Hawaii cuisine bring obvious joy to the people who eat it, but the interest is coming from the outside. Japan and the United States are expanding the category and place of what defines Hawaiis food culture and cuisine. This is being done with the restaurants opening up that no longer have the vintage tiki theme and menus that reflect Hawaiis greatest hits of dishes that are flavorful and from Hawaii. But what is local for food? What is a local plate lunch? If you take a look at a place thats a Drive In or a Plate Lunch Shop you will see that alot of it is a mix mash of multiple cultures food in one place. The menu will explain the Hamburger Steak or Loco Moco that is inspired from American food, Chicken katsu that is from Japanese style, Kalua Pork and Cabbage from Hawaiian style, Shoyu Pork from Okinawan, or maybe Kalbi Short Ribs from Korean Style, and the list goes on. Its really all mixed up. No other dish marks this better than the loco moco, since it really just means "Local Mix". The Growth in Hawaii Food It shows the evolution of the food from separate ethnic foods to a mixed up food. Local food is challenging to understand, since the segregation of restaurants makes it feel like separate identities of food. But really they may have different ethnic labels, but many dishes have come to identify Hawaii. Sometimes it takes someone from the outside... like a China-man from China to identify what isn't classically Chinese. A person from Korea to show us that something like Meat Juhn isn't really a thing outside of Hawaii. A mainland American to point out that our Chile and Beans is weird in its creamy addiction. The overall feeling of home and feeling of being local finds itself from being apart of the food culture that is with the foods that you mostly find only in the Islands. The local food is a great thing that will continue to connect us as Kama’aina and will spread the Hawaii food with its growing Hawaii Cuisine with much Aloha.
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